In confirming the layoffs, Bobby Moran, interim CEO at The Block, said that “Friday was a tough day for our company. We parted ways with 27 incredibly talented and hard-working colleagues each of whom contributed to The Block’s success. We are genuinely sad to see them go.”

The Block made headlines in December 2022 following reports that Sam Bankman-Fried secretly channeled millions of dollars in loans through his trading company, Alameda Research, to Michael McCaffrey, The Block’s former chief executive.

Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX and Alameda, is now awaiting trial on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy. McCaffrey did not divulge the source of the funds publicly and resigned from his CEO seat shortly after the revelations.

The layoffs were spread over multiple company functions, including editorial, research, engineering, sales, revenue, and corporate operations, with almost half coming from editorial and research, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Block is not profitable, according to an Axios investigation, which found that a buyout of the company’s investors in April 2021 led by McCaffrey was financed by loans extended by Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research. Those lines of credit reportedly were funneled to an LLC, MJMCCAFFREY LLC.