Sam Bankman-Fried is likened to Bernie Madoff and exhibited signs of sociopathy and narcissism.

7 min readOct 26, 2023

~ Thursday, October 26, 2023 Blog Post ~

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023.— Screengrab 1 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

“Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” YouTube video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QpdU9LS540

As a thirtysomething millennial and conservative investor, I’m distrusting and paranoid, especially when it comes to my hard-earned money. I do not trust decentralized finance or DeFi and have constantly affirmed here in my blog that I am a staunch advocate of traditional finance or TradFi.

I watched “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. This Bloomberg Originals film made me question why people placed their confidence on the cryptocurrency founder who fell from grace.

Based on the documentary, Bankman-Fried was charismatic. The Bloomberg journalists described the former Jane Street trader as unconventional and thoughtful. One of them cited that Bankman-Fried seemed thoughtful and did not seem to fool anybody. He was also believed to be a “white knight” after serving as the “crypto bro of last resort” during the cryptocurrency winter of 2022.

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 2 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 3 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

Furthermore, the documentary speakers described the disgraced cryptocurrency exchange chief as having that openness that made him seem to be a good person to write about. Bankman-Fried was reportedly always available and would answer any query thrown at him by journalists. This specific attribute resulted in the alleged scammer receiving good press.

On the other hand, journalists and finance professionals who discovered the 31-year-old FTX founder’s true colors described him as an opportunist. Many questioned his “cryptocurrency king” status, particularly the fact that he got so popular and powerful so quickly.

Bankman-Fried reportedly loves to take incredible risks and did not really care about the downside. One speaker in the documentary shared that the discredited FTX founder had the mentality that he always has to win.

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 4 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 5 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

Additionally, Bankman-Fried was compared to the late financier and convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff. He is facing eight criminal charges here in the United States. Bankman-Fried has to prove that he did not use the US$8 billion that had gone missing for his personal benefit.

In many cases, people who trusted Bankman-Fried and invested in FTX lost their life savings amounting from US$50,000 to US$2 million, per the Bloomberg documentary. They all point to Bankman-Fried’s claim that his defunct cryptocurrency exchange had a liquidity shortfall worth in the neighborhood of US$8 billion.

I don’t think Bankman-Fried is a wunderkind, as what his unwitting investors reckoned him to be during the height of FTX’s success. Since I find it interesting to learn about psychology topics, particularly mental disorders, I think the former cryptocurrency exchange executive had symptoms of narcissism and sociopathy.

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 6 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 7 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023.- Screengrab 8 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 9 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

After all, based on the documentary, Bankman-Fried wanted to always win. He did not care if what he was doing was right or wrong, which is a sign sociopaths typically exhibit.

Bankman-Fried was also reckless, taking incredible risks and not caring about his actions’ repercussions. According to one of the speakers, the alleged virtual currency scammer did not care about the moral implications of what he was proposing.

Being a narcissist, Bankman-Fried loved being front and center of FTX ads that was then scattered everywhere. He was always available and open and he loved the attention he got from the press.

These horrible characteristics made me wonder how on earth people found themselves trusting Bankman-Fried with their hard-earned money. I think he had all the red flags that scammers possess. He is also creepy because I think he is a narcissist and sociopath, and not just some messy, lonely guy with anhedonia, per one of the Bloomberg documentary’s speakers.

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 10 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 11 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 12 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I have written about cryptocurrency which is an incredibly risky asset class. It is unsafe to invest in it. I agree that virtual currencies are not worthy to invest in, since many crypto projects ended up as Ponzi schemes. They spectacularly collapsed fast.

According to one Bloomberg journalist featured in “Ruin,” FTX was in Hong Kong and The Bahamas because what they were doing was illegal in the United States. Thus, it is really hard for me to make up my mind when it comes to cryptocurrency investing. I will most likely engage with TradFi instruments throughout my investing journey and never gamble on crypto-asset investing at all.

Kraken exchange co-founder Jesse Powell said Bankman-Fried and FTX were all façade. I agree. I think Bankman-Fried showed that he drove a simple Toyota Corolla sedan for people to believe him as someone who is a good guy who really wanted to dedicate his life in doing what is best for the world.

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 13 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 14 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 15 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

FTX also used celebrities with massive reach and respect like Steph Curry, Tom Brady, and Gisele Bündchen to tell innocent retail investors that, hey, we are legitimate, real, and your investment money is in good hands with us.

Why didn’t the retail investors investigate who Sam Bankman-Fried truly was? Why were they unsuspecting that they trusted him that quickly? Also, why did the investors believe the FTX cryptocurrency exchange hype without questioning its origins, nature, and hazards?

From these questions that I have got, it goes to show that there are really trusting people in this world. These impressionable investors who took the risk have to suffer the consequences of their gullibility: The loss of their life savings which many of them worked hard for for many years.

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 16 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 17 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 18 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

I watched Bloomberg’s “Ruin: Money, Ego and Deception at FTX — The Sam Bankman-Fried Story” documentary today, Thursday, October 26, 2023. — Screengrab 19 of 39 (Sheena Ricarte, October 2023)

The truth about Bankman-Fried was he had a dangerous way of thinking. I agree with CNBC journalist’s Kevin O’Leary who was also among the documentary’s speakers and a former FTX investor. Bankman-Fried and FTX are all about greed.

Bitcoin and the crypto-assets are software which are not nefarious, but the unscrupulous people who use them for their advantage are. Mr. O’Leary also mentioned that he has encountered many Sam Bankman-Frieds in the past and that their unprincipled kind will not disappear as they are all an inherent part of capitalism. With Mr. O’Leary’s reliable observations, I believe I will forever steer clear of cryptocurrency investing.

Sam Bankman-Fried is likened to Bernie Madoff and exhibited signs of sociopathy and narcissism.

Written by SHEENA RICARTE

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