SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci recounted the time he spent with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas during the firm’s harrowing final days, on Thursday during Consensus 2023.

Scaramucci served as a mentor and business partner to Bankman-Fried, coordinating the crypto wunderkind’s fundraising trips in North America and the Middle East before FTX’s implosion. FTX also purchased a 30% stake in SkyBridge Capital, deepening the ties between the firms’ founders.

But that relationship hit a rough patch in November, when a CoinDesk investigation revealed the now-bankrupt exchange might be on shaky financial footing. Soon after, Scaramucci flew to the Bahamas to talk in person with Bankman-Fried. It was there that he stumbled upon a “war room” of FTX executives.

Financial crimes often happen when a small group of individuals plot among themselves, said Scaramucci, who compared FTX's alleged fraud to that of infamous Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.

(by Toby Leah Bochan)