Anthony Scaramucci compared Sam Bankman-Fried to Bernie Madoff, and alluded to Dante's 'Inferno' as he discussed the FTX founder's downfall
David Dee Delgado/Getty Images; Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
- Anthony Scaramucci spoke about his relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried at a Davos crypto panel.
- The former White House spokesperson said he used to consider SBF a friend but said he felt betrayed.
- Scaramucci alluded to the circles of hell in Dante's "Divine Comedy" and compared SBF to Bernie Madoff.
Anthony Scaramucci accused former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried of "betrayal" and "fraud" during a crypto panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Monday.
The former White House spokesperson and SkyBridge Capital founder said he had a close relationship with Bankman-Fried, and "considered him a friend" after FTX bought around 30% of SkyBridge in 2022.
Scaramucci told the Casper Labs Blockchain Hub that he knew Bankman-Fried and his father well and "felt close to his family, so I have to tell you that the betrayal and the fraud is bad on a lot of different levels.
"It certainly hurt me reputationally, but I'm just talking about the visceral relationship with somebody."
He then went on to allude to Dante's "Divine Comedy."
"If anybody here has read Dante Alighieri's 'Inferno,' you know what the ninth circle of Hell is reserved for," he added. "It's for the betrayal of a friend who lives with the devil."
While Scaramucci didn't elaborate, in the "Divine Comedy," the ninth circle of hell is the final circle and sees sinners buried in a lake of ice by Satan himself. In the epic poem people like Judas Iscariot and Brutus, who famously betrayed Julius Caesar, are trapped in the ninth circle.
FTX bought 30% of SkyBridge Capital for $45 million in September 2022. Asked about his feelings about FTX by CoinDesk's Chief Content Officer Michael Casey, Scaramucci joked: "I just want to point out, he gave me the money."
The Financial Times reported that SkyBridge Capital also bought $10 million of FTX's cryptocurrency, FTT, as part of the deal's requirements. The token's value has since fallen 90%, per CoinMarketCap data.
"I made a mistake being involved with Sam," Scaramucci said. "But I'll probably make that mistake again."
Scaramucci went on to compare Bankman-Fried to another young tech founder with a penchant for casual clothing, Mark Zuckerberg.
"I thought Sam was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto, I did not think he was the Bernie Madoff of crypto," he added. "And I got that wrong."
Scaramucci also noted how the collapse of FTX hasn't affected his confidence in crypto technology in general.
"When you have a friend that betrays you like that it really sucks, but that doesn't mean it's the end of blockchain or crypto," he said.
This month, Scaramucci injected $10 million of his personal capital into a new crypto venture set up by Brett Harrison, the ex-president of FTX's US arm.
Bankman-Fried's lawyer did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside US working hours.
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