- SkyBridge Capital managing partner Anthony Scaramucci said in Davos that he once believed Sam Bankman-Fried was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto but was wrong.
- Scaramucci said he felt “betrayed” by SBF, with whom he had a close relationship.
- Scaramucci also alluded to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno and said that the “ninth circle of hell” is reserved for SBF.
- Despite the failed investment relationship with FTX and SBF, Scaramucci said he’d probably make a similar mistake again because he’s a “risk taker.”
SkyBridge Capital managing partner Anthony Scaramucci has opened up about his relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried after the collapse of FTX.
Speaking at Davos, Scaramucci said that he believed Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, to be someone other than who he turned out to be. He compared SBF to the infamous Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff.
“I thought Sam was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto, I didn’t think he was the Bernie Madoff of crypto,” Scaramucci said. Scaramucci also said that he felt “betrayed” by SBF, professionally and personally, since he had a close relationship with him and his family. He said that SBF has a place waiting for him in hell.
“If anybody here has read Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, you know what the ninth circle of hell is reserved for. It’s for the betrayal of a friend who lives with the devil – the ninth circle of hell on the frozen lake,” he said. FTX was an investor in Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital. FTX Ventures bought a 30% stake in the company in September of last year, just two months before FTX went bankrupt. SkyBridge is now trying to buy back FTX’s stake.
Despite the failed relationship with SBF, Scaramucci said he’ll probably make a similar mistake in the future because he’s a “risk taker.”
“I’m a high-profile person so my mistakes get wildly magnified, [which is] totally fine but I’m not gonna stop the risk-taking,” he said. And Scaramucci seems to have already made another risky bet. Reports indicate that he invested in a crypto company that former FTX US president Brett Harrison started.
On the Flipside
- It’s unclear whether Scaramucci truly knew anything about what had been happening at FTX when the company invested in SkyBridge Capital.
Why You Should Care
Anthony Scaramucci is one of the rare Wall Street financiers supporting blockchain technology and the crypto industry. It’s important to have someone like him explaining and supporting crypto in the traditional finance world.
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