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.

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More from @compound248

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
Jul 26, 2023
Today, Enovix, a science project battery company, posted a long letter trying to stop a reporter from investigating it. The letter culminates by calling me "ringleader" of a short group that coordinates trades.

False.

One might ask, "why is $ENVX so afraid of inspection?"
🧵👇
2/ There really are some $ENVX "ringleaders" on Twitter, but they are insanely bullish. They're also bullies: Marc Cohodes and Greg Reyes. They lie, distort, attack, and malign anyone who questions Enovix.

They claim to have a special relationship with ENVX Chairman, TJ Rodgers.
3/ As we will see, these are odd bedfellows.

Both are cruel, manipulative, and bullying. They constantly allude to having the inside skinny on Enovix while pumping it to their legions of followers.

They coordinate and attack all skeptics and do so in retrogressive ways.
Read 28 tweets
Jun 6, 2023
The @SECGov crypto enforcement team has been busy af...

...today it sued $COIN, after suing Binance and @cz_binance yesterday.

Gary, I can only summarize lawsuits so fast...

Let's dig in.
🧵👇 Image
1. The Dog that Didn't Bark

As you can see in the below image, in yesterday's Binance suit, Binance founder @cz_binance himself was listed as a formal defendant in the SEC complaint.

In the $COIN lawsuit, no individual is included.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong just exhaled... Image
2. This suit is less "sexy" than the @binance suit (linked at the end of this thread).

While Binance and FTX looked like companies that lacked controls and were run haphazardly, the Coinbase suit is more about the technicalities of "registering" and "what is a Security?" Image
Read 17 tweets

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