FTX engaged BlackRock and Google as potential investors while Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange circled the drain last November, according to evidence submitted in the one-time wunderkind’s criminal trial on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors offered a spreadsheet maintained by the now-defunct exchange connected to its fundraisers as FTX’s former general counsel, Can Sun, testified. The document includes info about various fundraising rounds—including one that Sun said “never closed.”
According to his testimony, FTX’s C1 funding round began in the “late summer and fall of 2022.” The spreadsheet indicates that 15 potential investors should be “engage[d] pronto,” including BlackRock, Google, and Apollo, which Sun spoke about specifically during his testimony.
“They asked for Apollo […] to invest in FTX to help solve a liquidity problem that FTX had for customer withdrawals,” Sun recalled, adding he was involved in discussions with the firm.
There was a “medium” chance that BlackRock and Google would participate in the funding round, the spreadsheet indicates. It also states that both firms were conducting due diligence on Bankman-Fried’s exchange before it collapsed on November 11.
Bankman-Fried is defending himself ag
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Author: André Beganski
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