Ariel Zilber, Thomas Barrabi and Lydia Moynihan
NY Post, Nov. 14, 2022
“As Bankman-Fried’s estimated fortunate ballooned as high as $26 billion during the pandemic-era cryptocurrency boom, the FTX founder used the windfall to cultivate cozy relationships in media.”
The shocking implosion of the FTX crypto exchange has become an embarrassment for a who’s who among global elites, with some issuing mea culpas — and others apparently scrambling to hide their ties to its disgraced, 30-year-old founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Web archive sites show that the World Economic Forum — whose glitzy shindig in Davos, Switzerland, is a must-attend for billionaires and world leaders each year — had previously listed FTX as one of its “partners,” touting the Bahamas-based firm as a “cryptocurrency exchange built by traders, for traders.”
Bankman-Fried also was a speaker at Davos last May alongside luminaries such as Google financial chief Ruth Porat and Bill Winters, CEO of the London-based financial giant Standard Chartered. Nevertheless, WEF has since scrubbed any mention of FTX from its website in the days after the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy.
“FTX was a World Economic Forum partner. In light of last week’s events, their partnership was suspended and they were removed from the Partners section of our website,” a spokesman for the Geneva-based organization headed by Klaus Schwab told The Post on Monday.
According to one WEF insider, Bankman-Fried likely landed on the group’s site because he donated cash to the group, in addition to his upcoming speaking gig.
“World Economic Forum survives on donations from outside organizations and companies that are typically aligned with their mission and politics,” the source told The Post.
The WEF isn’t the only group that has egg on its face from its cheerleading for FTX and Bankman-Fried, whose $16 billion fortune evaporated in a matter of days — a stunning collapse that has elicited comparisons to Lehman Brothers and Enron. Bankman-Fried is under federal investigation.
Photographs circulated online over the weekend showing former President Bill Clinton sitting next to Bankman-Fried on stage — along with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair — at an event in the Bahamas this past April.
The Post has sought comment from Clinton’s office. …SOURCE