A clandestine 75-minute audio recording has unveiled a shocking revelation involving Caroline Ellison and 15 former Alameda Research employees.
The recording exposes the precise moment when they discovered that the trading firm had been “borrowing” user funds from FTX.
The complete audio, obtained by Cointelegraph, sheds light on the intense tension that Ellison and the Alameda staff experienced leading up to FTX’s eventual collapse.
During an all-hands meeting in Hong Kong on November 9, 2022, Ellison disclosed, “Alameda was kind of borrowing a bunch of money via open-term loans and using that to make various illiquid investments.
So like a bunch of FTX and FTX US equity… Most of Alameda’s loans got called in in order to meet those recalls.”
She further confessed, “We ended up borrowing a bunch of funds from FTX, which led to FTX having a shortfall in user funds.”
Ellison made this revelation to the approximately 15 staff members present at the meeting, shocking them with the news that FTX had essentially allowed Alameda to borrow user funds.
Segments of this audio recording were played in court on October 12, during the eighth day of Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial. Christian Drappi, a former software engineer at Alameda, provided witness testimony following three days of Ellison’s testimony.
READ MORE:Former Engineer Exposes Multi-Million Dollar Scams at Alameda Research Amidst FTX Fraud Trial
Prior to this meeting, Drappi and many other Alameda employees had no knowledge of the alleged misappropriation of FTX customer deposits by the hedge fund.
The recording captures Drappi asking Ellison when she first became aware of Alameda’s misuse of FTX user deposits and who else within the company was privy to this information.
Initially hesitant to respond, Ellison was pressed by Drappi, who queried, “I’m sure this wasn’t, like, a YOLO thing, right?”
This audio playback resulted in a humorous moment in court, as Drappi had to explain the term “YOLO” to everyone present. He sought confirmation from Ellison that the use of FTX deposits wasn’t merely a spontaneous decision.
In his testimony, Drappi described Ellison’s demeanor during the meeting as “sunken” and lacking confidence in addressing Alameda employees.
Shocked by the extent of the relationship between FTX and Alameda, Drappi quit the following day.
Alameda Research engineer Aditya Baradwaj, who also attended the meeting, revealed that the room was “extremely tense.”
Ellison disclosed a wealth of previously undisclosed information, including the abandoned acquisition of FTX by its largest competitor, Binance. Baradwaj stated, “It became pretty clear that there was no future for the company, and that we all had to leave. And we did that right after.”
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