Compound248 💰 Profile picture
Dec 22, 2022 20 tweets 9 min read Read on X
We just discovered Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang turned on @SBF_FTX, rattling him out to the Feds. The SEC’s civil (non-criminal) complaint is built on their participation and gives us our first “insider’s account” of the FTX disaster.

I’ve given you 12 key takeaways below:👇🧵 Image
1. It is what we thought:

• SBF lied
• Wang built a back door to FTX for Alameda to sweep funds
• Caroline ran Alameda (Sam’s personal fund)
• Sam invested in real estate, politicians, and venture capital 😅 ImageImage
2. 💥 Sam told me to do it

Caroline says Sam directed her to take customer funds from FTX in exchange for the made-up $FTT shitcoin. (In green highlight) This directly contradicts Sam’s repeated “I didn’t know” statements.

Caroline is wisely throwing Sam under the bus. twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
3. May 2022: Shit Hits the Fan

Despite already having “borrowed” billions and billions of FTX customer assets, by May, when crypto went bump in the night, Alameda (Sam) couldn’t fulfill its borrower obligations.

Sam ordered Caroline to take even more FTX customer money. Image
4. “Brazen, Multi-Year Scheme”

The violations peaked in 2022, but began years ago…from the start of FTX. This wasn’t a recent accident. It was a multi-year fraud. ImageImageImage
5. Sam and Gary Own 100% of Alameda

Anytime someone says “Alameda,” just substitute “Sam.”

Sam owns 90% of Alameda and Gary 10%. Alameda has no clients - all that money is Sam and Gary’s, stolen fair and square. Image
6. Sam was ALWAYS in Control

Even after naming Caroline and Sam Trabucco as Co-CEOs of Alameda in 2021, Sam remained in absolute control.

He frequently communicated with Alameda peeps and had full access to its books and records.

Alameda *IS* Sam, so this makes sense. Image
7. Alameda (Sam) was Exempted from FTX’s Risk Management Process

As has been widely discussed, FTX had a decent risk-engine, it just didn’t apply to its biggest user: Sam himself (via Alameda).

At least Sam posted high-quality SamCoins - $FTT - as collateral. 😅 ImageImageImageImage
8. Sam CREATED Alameda’s Deal and Took Actions to Hurt FTX

Over $8 BILLION of customer funds were wired by customers DIRECTLY TO ALAMEDA rather than FTX.

Eight. Billion.

This was a de facto loan. Sam ensured Alameda (Sam) did NOT have to pay FTX interest on that money. Image
9. Securities Fraud

Among the many frauds Sam et al committed was the securities fraud.

The SEC frowns on poorly written footnotes. Imagine how it treats you lying to would-be investors about your fraud to raise fresh equity.

“Fraud squared,” or something. Image
10. Magic Money in a Box was a “Security”😬

SamCoins, ShitCoins, Web3 “tokens,” magic beans. Call em what you want, but they’re entirely fabricated from dreams.

And Sam lied about them.

A lot.

And they “manipulated” the price of $FTT.

And the SEC declares it a security.👀 ImageImageImage
Quick Aside (unrelated to FTX): if tokens are securities, many, MANY people broke the law. Entrepreneurs, promoters, and - yikes! - prominent venture capitalists. I’d watch out here. We may see VCs in handcuffs…
11. Undocumented Personal Loans in the Billions

If you have your fund “borrow” customer brokerage assets, then “lend” those from your fund to yourself, but you don’t document the loan, is it even a loan? Doesn’t that just make it money laundering?

Say it with me: “RICO.” ImageImage
12. FTX Customers Withdrew $5 Billion in ONE DAY 😮

It also had history’s all-time least surprising $8 billion shortfall. Oops! Image
End:

That’s the SEC civil complaint summary - the criminal complaints will have more.

The most fascinating part to me is the implications beyond FTX’s shores (see the “Quick Aside” before #11).

If you enjoyed, please Like, RT, & Follow.

Here’s an earlier FTX thread. 🙏
Vibes. ImageImage
Source to SEC complaint:
sec.gov/litigation/com…
Here’s what the US Souther District of New York had to say on the matter:
Dude 2500x’d his wealth in the last 3-weeks. Legend.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Compound248 💰

Compound248 💰 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @compound248

Dec 3
“Vox populi, vox dei.”

So goes one of Elon’s favorite quotes.

Today we learned while the voice of the people may be the voice of the gods, in Delaware there’s only one true god:

And her name is Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick.
1/x 🧵👇

Below is a brief thread breaking down her denial of Elon’s request for $55 billion in $TSLA stock.Image
2. Her original January 2024 ruling highlighted several flaws in the years old shareholder vote that was meant to award Elon massive stock compensation, if he delivered massive value to $TSLA shareholders.

Her determination wiped out Musk’s entire equity grant, stating Tesla failed to follow required procedures, which invalidated the original vote from years ago to grant the compensation package.Image
3. Tesla asked her to review her ruling.

Then, this past summer, Tesla held a new shareholder vote to (re)affirm the prior flawed compensation package.

Today’s 103 page decision responded to that request AND was meant to decide how much the plaintiffs’ lawyers should be paid.
Read 15 tweets
Oct 31
1. $CVNA has 67x'd (!!) in less than 2 yrs, bottoming Dec '22 at $3.72 vs ~$253 today.

I'm sympathetic to the short-seller view, but also was at $10.

Praise Allah, I avoided this career-killer. Despite its sketchy history, it's short-seller death.

That said, inshallah.
🧵👇1/x Image
2. Last Q, Carvana sold 234k cars. while booking (heavily) Adjusted EBITDA of $429 million.

That's an EBITDA per unit sold of >$1,800, more than most used car retailers make in GROSS PROFIT per vehicle, much less EBITDA per unit.

A 12% Adj EBITDA margin for a used car retailer! Image
3. Compare Carvana's 12% Adj EBITDA margin to CarMax.

CarMax operates in the 3-4% range.

$KMX is the nation's largest used car retailer and is widely considered to be a well-run, direct competitor. Image
Read 14 tweets
Nov 19, 2023
Rare footage of Mrs. B - Rose Blumkin.

Mrs. B founded Nebraska Furniture Mart in 1937 with $500 of savings, selling 90% to Warren Buffett’s $BRK 50 years later for $55 million.

Even at 94-years old, she continued to work 70 hour weeks, pricing rugs and carpets from memory. 🧵👇

“We like managers who are in love with their business…who feel like I do - I want to tap dance when I get to the office,” is how Buffett answered Adam Smith’s question about the Berkshire Hathaway culture.
1/x
Mrs B barely spoke English when she started NFM; she sought a $75 business loan and was denied.

50 years later, what did she think of the doubters?

“I still hate them. Anybody who does you dirty, you should never forgive and forget.” ☠️

- Rose Blumkin at 94 years young
Mrs. B had uncommon sense:

“God blessed me: anything I do, I make money.”

Mrs. B’s daughter on growing up:

“The customer was God - that came first and we came next,” she laughingly shared.
Read 11 tweets
Nov 2, 2023
1. $COIN just reported Q3.

Most people assume it makes its money as a crypto exchange.

True...sort of.

Its rev comes as much from interest income on its cash balances + its share of $USDC's cash ($COIN owns a share of USDC owner, Circle) as from transactions.

Worrisome.
🧵👇
2. Interest Income is Lower Quality

Even as $COIN's core transaction revenue has declined by nearly HALF, its interest income has skyrocketed with rising rates.

In Q2 2022, interest was 5% of revenue; in Q2 2023, it was 35%... Image
3. Stablecoin Revenue

...in Q3, interest income hit nearly 40% !!! of revenue.

(With $COIN restructuring its deal with Circle, Coinbase's share of $USDC interest income is now categorized as "Stablecoin Revenue.")

I expect $COIN just achieved peak interest income. Image
Read 12 tweets
Oct 4, 2023
The Rise of Temu.

Temu launched first in the US and is owned by Chinese e-comm giant $PDD, targeting the value-oriented customer.

It's a 3P model but w/ the experience controlled by Temu in more of a "1P" manner (pricing, warehousing, shipping).

In just 1 year (credit $GS):
🧵 Image
2. Value Buyer

Given its low-priced proposition, it's no surprise that Temu is winning more business in states that have lower average per capita income. Image
3. CAC 🤮

To win these lower-value customers, Temu is spending a fortune on ads and marketing (see graphics on left).

On the right, we can see its US user growth has been astounding but may be slowing.

For that marketing $$ to be worth it, Temu needs to add considerable scale.
Image
Image
Read 14 tweets
Sep 2, 2023
In the next 9 days, we will learn the fate of the cable TV industry.

Disney has pulled its programming from Charter's TV customers, launching a momentous battle.

For years, content owners like $DIS held the upper hand.

Now, $CHTR is poised to win. Let’s talk about why.
🧵👇 Image
1. Why now?

So-called “carriage battles” (CHTR “carrying” DIS content) ALWAYS surface around important sports, generally football.

$DIS's key TV asset is ESPN - ESPN is THE home of college football.

Today is opening day.

$DIS chose to pull its content 36 hours before kickoff.
2. Negotiation 101

This is an amazing moment:

In one sense, it’s a narrow negotiation around sports costs.

In another, it is the future of TV.

And I’m not overstating it.

But the tides have shifted.

Historical power struggles, acute timing concerns, and more.

Let’s dig in.
Read 26 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(