Attorney Deaton Says It’s “Absolute Nonsense” to Claim SBF Had Good Intentions For FTX Customers

Attorney Deaton does not believe SBF had good intentions following his actions. 

The cryptocurrency community has continued to comment on the sudden collapse of FTX, which wreaked havoc on the entire industry. More than a week after FTX collapsed, members of the cryptocurrency are still commenting on the incident. 

Attorney John Deaton, the founder of Crypto Law, a media outlet that covers U.S. legal and regulatory news for cryptocurrencies, joined many crypto stakeholders to comment on the FTX saga. 

Deaton’s comment on the issue were in response to a tweet made by Mario Nawfal, CEO of IBC Group. Nawfal claimed that FTX insiders revealed that the exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had good intentions. According to Nawfal, his sources disclosed that SBF started lying when things grew too fast and out of his control. 

“Verified FTX Insider: SBF had good intentions, but things grew too quickly too fast & got out of hand. SBF lost control. SBF started lying, and this led to compulsive lying, backed up by a false sense of altruism that led him to believe his own lies leading to his demise,” Nawfal said. 

Deaton Responds to Nawfal’s Claims

Responding to Nawfal’s tweet, attorney Deaton described the comment as “absolute nonsense.” Deaton, who is currently representing over 75,000 XRP holders in the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit, said SBF can’t have good intentions after stealing “$10 billion of customers’ funds.”  

The Crypto Law founder said SBF was able to gain access to customers’ funds via his acquisition of BlockFi, a crypto lender FTX bailed out BlockFi with a $250 million loan earlier this year. 

“[SBF] gets no benefit because there is zero doubt,” attorney Deaton added. 

This is absolute nonsense. It is impossible to have good intentions when you steal $10B of customer funds. He acquired @BlockFi as subterfuge to access funds. He gets no benefit because there is zero doubt. https://t.co/K4Ku2PaVlr

— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) November 14, 2022

Another Crypto Stakeholder With Similar Sentiments

Many people do not believe SBF had good intentions. Prominent cryptocurrency whistleblower Thierry Arys Ruiz also agreed with attorney Deaton. 

Whistleblower @ThierryArys disagrees & claims SBF knew what he was doing, intentionally framing others as he scammed users & his own employees 👇

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) November 14, 2022

FTX Sudden Collapse and Subsequent Troubles

As reported last week, FTX, a former leading cryptocurrency exchange, suffered a major collapse, with sources claiming that over $8 billion black hole was discovered in its balance sheet. 

Trouble started for the former-leading cryptocurrency firm after Coindesk noted in a report that SBF had been using FTX’s balance sheet to further loans. A pseudonymous crypto researcher Dirty Bubble Media piled further pressure on FTX last week by asking whether the company was insolvent. Dirty Bubble Media noted that SBF may have found a way to hack the global financial system by printing billions of dollars from nowhere. 

On November 6, 2022, Changpeng Zhao (CZ) brought the attention of crypto investors to the FTX saga after announcing that Binance would liquidate its FTT tokens holdings, worth around $580 million. CZ claimed Binance is not against FTX in any way. However, the world’s largest exchange will not support anyone who lobbies behind other industry players. 

Since the announcement, FTX’s woes have soared. SBF announced that he filed FTX, FTX.US, and Alameda Research for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The United States Justice Department as well as two top legal firms are currently investigating the collapse of the FTX Group. Tether, the official issuer of USDT, has also commenced the freezing of all USDT accounts linked to FTX, based on authorities’ request. 

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