SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci said his firm could buy back the stake in the company it sold to FTX in September last year. Meanwhile, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has hinted that he would be tempted to “hit” SBF squarely on the jaw.
Sky Bridge and FTX
FTX Ventures acquired a 30% stake in alternative asset manager SkyBridge on Sept. 9 for an undisclosed fee, just months before FTX filed for bankruptcy in November.
Speaking to CNBC on Jan. 13, Scaramuci noted that SkyBridge was making progress on repurchasing that stake given FTX’s woes, but indicated the move could not be finalized “expectedly until the end of the first half of this year.”
“We’re awaiting approval from the liquidators, attorneys and investment bankers to figure out exactly what we’re going to buy back and when,” the CEO said, adding, “I think it will resolve itself favorably.”
Referring to former FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Scaramucci outlined his thoughts that foul play likely took place there.
“I think it’s very clear now that there was cheating. Of course, we have to leave all this to the legal system. But for Sam, he has already pleaded guilty to three out of four of the principles that worked by his side and told prosecutors what they did,” Scaramucci said.
caught up @Scaramucci today. FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried bought a 30 percent stake in Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital before FTX collapsed. Now Scaramucci says he’s confident he can buy back that stake. In view of new facts, he also accuses SBF of fraud pic.twitter.com/jxltXdjCKW
— Arjun Kharpal (@ArjunKharpal) January 13, 2023
The CEO’s comments stand in stark contrast to his previous comments to CNBC in November, in which Scaramucci refused to use the word “scam” due to its legal ramifications and “urged Sam and his family to tell their investors the truth, to reach the end” of the whole debacle.
According to SkyBridge’s website, as of September 30, 2022, the company had $2.2 billion in assets under management, of which approximately $800 million was related to investments related to digital assets.
Galaxy CEO looking for a smackdown
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz says there is a side of him that both SBF and Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert would like to smack for their reported antics during the crypto winter.
In an interview with Bloomberg published Jan. 13, Novogratz noted that the FTX ordeal ended up costing Galaxy around $77 million straight away. As such, he’s not a huge fan of SBF and other alleged space misconduct over the past year.
“The toxic male side of me would love to smack them both in the face,” he said of SBF and Silbert, before adding specifically to SBF, “You must be kidding me. How, really, are you a——?”
Related: Crypto community unfazed by SBF’s lengthy substack letter
Novogratz finally admitted that despite 2022 being such a wild year for the industry, he is still a crypto advocate.
However, he noted that he wishes he had taken more capital off the table earlier in 2022 before FTX and even the Terra/LUNA ecosystem went bust. Despite this, he says he managed to rake in more than $1 billion before this year started.