The collapse of the crypto exchange FTX has left the entire crypto market reeling because it resulted in losses worth billions of dollars for people.
Countless people have directed their criticism and accusations at Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and ex-chief executive of the crypto exchange.
Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money, is the latest one to join the criticism bandwagon and he outright called Sam Bankman-Fried a conman and a pathological liar.
Cramer said that SBF, who is going around saying that he did not intentionally commingle customer funds and apologize for his mistakes, is a clueless idiot and his apology does not offer anything.
The criticism
In a couple of interviews last Thursday on CNBC, Cramer discussed the bankruptcy of the FTX crypto exchange and the actions of the former CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Cramer not only hosts the Mad Money show on CNBC but is also the co-founder of the financial literacy and news website called Thestreet.com and was previously a hedge fund manager.
Last week, the New York Times had its Dealbook Summit where Sam Bankman-Fried had given an interview. The ex-CEO stated that he did not try to defraud anyone.
This did not sit well with Cramer who said that not keeping records and comingling funds is against the law and that the apology and intent do not make a difference here.
The crime
Cramer accused Bankman-Fried of being sloppy because he had not kept records, which is illegal. He said that even if he had not intended to do so, he still admitted to doing something illegal.
He added that the US attorney is only interested in whether the law was broken or not and intent does not matter in this case.
The Mad Money show host asserted that it was irrelevant if Bankman-Fried was a nice guy or not because even the nicest people can go to jail.
He went as far as calling SBF a pathological liar as well as a con man. He continued to say that the FTX co-founder had admitted to the commingling of funds and said that it did not matter because he had felt bad about doing it.
He said that none of it mattered, whether he is a liar or telling the truth, because he had broken the law. Cramer said that comingling funds means you go to jail.
Another interview
On the same day, Cramer gave another interview in which he said that the former FTX boss was a con artist. He did not take his full name, saying that he did not deserve that anymore.
The Mad Money host said that Sam was a fabulous con artist who had comingled the funds but was feeling bad about doing so.
He concluded that he did not believe in the whole ‘alleged’ stealing because when it comes to Bankman-Fried, he was not going to be a journalist.
The FTX crypto exchange is currently under investigation for mishandling customer funds. The bankruptcy proceedings are being overseen by its new CEO, John Jay Ray III.
He had informed the bankruptcy court that in his career, he has not come across such an ignorance of corporate protocols and there is no such reliable financial information available.
He is the same lawyer who oversaw the bankruptcy of Enron, so he has experience in the area.