Working for Sam Bankman-Fried: A Former Alameda Colleague's Inside Story

Working for Sam Bankman-Fried: A Former Alameda Colleague’s Inside Story

Updated: 24 August 2023

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A former engineer at Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, has provided a glimpse into what it was like to work for the fallen crypto entrepreneur.

Aditya Baradwaj provided his account of life working with Bankman-Fried in a series of tweets that give insights into his vision for his companies, his lifestyle, and perhaps some of the reasons behind his eventual downfall.

During his first meeting with Bankman-Fried at a nondescript 4th-floor office in downtown Berkeley, Baradwaj recalls overhearing Bankman-Fried telling someone, ”Decentralization is the future. The single most valuable thing you can do for yourself is to drop what you’re doing and get into crypto.”

As an engineer at Alameda Research, I had my entire life savings stolen from me by my former boss: Sam Bankman-Fried.

Now, after months of recuperation from the craziness of the FTX collapse, I’m ready to tell my story.

Let’s start at the beginning:

(1/25) 🧵#SBF #FTX pic.twitter.com/x5wKvT0Dy2

— Adi (e/acc) (@aditya_baradwaj) August 23, 2023

“He didn’t just want to build a company,” he said, describing Bankman-Fried’s larger-than-life aspirations. “He wanted to build a machine – a growing sphere of influence that could break past the walls of that little office in Berkeley and wash over the world as a force for good.”

He says Bankman-Fried’s ambition was to blend business with a drive to do good, a vision that helped attract early employees.

But he goes on to detail the stark contrast between the vision and the day-to-day operations at Alameda and FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange founded by Bankman-Fried.

Despite the supposed separation of the two companies’ operations, the entities remained deeply intertwined, sharing office spaces and events.

And beneath the inspiring vision lay issues of financial mismanagement, uncalculated risk-taking, and technical shortcomings that jeopardized the firms’ integrity. While surrounded by lavish living and encounters with well-known figures, the story reveals an ongoing theme of irresponsible corporate behavior.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Fall

The climax of the story centers on the collapse of FTX, an implosion that left investors, clients, and employees facing financial ruin. The lofty goals of establishing a vaccine factory and combating malaria crumbled, replaced by bankruptcy, shattered trust, and the remnants of an unfinished FTX headquarters scattered across Bahamian beaches.

“I had my entire life savings stolen from me by my former boss: Sam Bankman-Fried,” Baradwaj says.

The engineer notes that Bankman-Fried was imprisoned for violating the terms of his house arrest, emphasizing a pattern of disregarding rules. He said:

Sam himself is behind bars at MDC, having violated the terms of his house arrest. Even after all this, it seems he is incapable of following the rules.

The engineer said his account is intended to provide insights into the personal dynamics and behind-the-scenes workings at the companies.

King Of Crypto Detained

In December last year, officials from the Bahamas Financial Crimes Investigation Unit arrested Sam Bankman-Fried at his apartment complex in Nassau after a request from the US government based on a confidential legal filing by the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

Bankman-Fried is facing multiple charges of fraud, conspiracy, campaign finance law violations, and money laundering. He denies the charges and says he is innocent. He is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, waiting for trial in October.

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