Secret recording of Caroline Ellison meeting with Alameda staff exposed in SBF criminal trial
Caroline Ellison, former chief executive officer of Alameda Research LLC, leaves Manhattan Federal Court after testifying during the trial of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, on October 10, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
In an all-hands meeting on the evening of Nov. 9, 2022, Alameda Research employees gathered in a circle to listen to CEO Caroline Ellison, who was sitting on a beanbag.
It was 11 p.m. in Hong Kong, and roughly half of the employees — 15 people — at Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund were present. Christian Drappi, a former software engineer at Alameda, was one of them. Ten others joined via video from the Bahamas. The Alameda office was across the street from FTX, Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange.
On Thursday, Drappi took the stand as a government witness in the criminal trial against Bankman-Fried, which is taking place 11 months after Alameda and FTX spiraled into bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried faces seven federal fraud charges and the potential of life in prison. He’s pleaded not guilty.
Drappi’s appearance on the stand in Manhattan came at the end of Ellison’s third day of testimony and included a recording of the Hong Kong meeting. Rick Best, a trader who had joined Alameda just days earlier, was directly to Ellison’s right and secretly recording the meeting as audio.
The prosecution played multiple clips from the recording, and the defense team played one in cross-examination.
To a packed courtroom, Drappi described Ellison’s demeanor that night as “sunken.” He said she was “kinda slouching” and “did not display confident body language.”
“Alameda borrowed a bunch of money,” which it used to make investments, Ellison said on the recording. But as crypto prices fell, “FTX had a shortfall of user funds” and then “users started withdrawing their funds” and they “realized they would not be able to continue.”
Drappi can be heard on the tape asking about FTX’s plan to pay back customers. Ellison, who has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is cooperating with prosecutors, responded that the company would raise money to fill the hole. Drappi told the jury that he was concerned with that response because it’s not typical to raise outside money for that purpose.
Drappi asked Ellison if Alameda’s loans were collateralized through the spot margin group. She said they weren’t, and Drappi said, “That seems pretty bad.”
Drappi wanted to know from Ellison if this was a “YOLO thing.”
He was asked in the courtroom to explain YOLO, and said, “It’s an acronym for ‘you only live once.'”
“When you do a YOLO thing, it’s something that’s spontaneous and not premeditated,” Drappi said. “I wanted to have Ms. Ellison confirm that indeed, you know, they had meetings about this and there was a deliberate decision, as I suspected it would be.”
At one point on the recording, Ellison giggled. Drappi, who said he’d known Ellison for a year and a half, described that as her “nervous laughter” and said she did it quite often.
When she was asked by a staffer whose idea it was to plug Alameda’s loan losses with FTX customer money, she said, “Um, Sam, I guess,” and giggled.
“FTX basically always allowed Alameda to, like, borrow user funds, as far as I know” she said on the recording.
Drappi resigned within 24 hours.
Caroline Ellison is questioned during Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial over the collapse of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal Court in New York City, U.S., October 11, 2023 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Drappi started at Alameda on May 31, 2021. Over the next 18 months, he worked in three offices: Hong Kong, the Bahamas and San Francisco. He was in Hong Kong as the business was falling apart.
In his testimony, Drappi said he observed Bankman-Fried working at the Hong Kong office and sat about 40 feet from him there for a couple months. The two hung out some out of the office, including to play padel, a hybrid of tennis and squash.
Drappi said Bankman-Fried maintained direct communications with Alameda employees through Signal. He weighed in on large trades and had access to “pointer,” Alameda’s internal interface, as well as to the firm’s back-end data.
In regards to trading, Drappi referenced one instance in which a senior trader said “Sam wanted to do it,” referring to a trade involving selling Japanese bonds and buying the currency. Drappi said he spoke to Alameda traders every day.
The night before the all-hands meeting, Nov. 8, Drappi said he was in the office along with Ellison and two traders, Tony Qian and David Nyeste. At about 11 p.m., Bankman-Fried posted a tweet announcing that Binance was buying FTX, in what would amount to a rescue of the exchange.
Drappi said the response was “shock.”
The Binance agreement was non-binding. On Nov. 9, the rival exchange backed out of the deal, and CEO Changpeng Zhao said FTX’s “issues are beyond our control or ability to help.” Two days later FTX declared bankruptcy.
WATCH: Caroline Ellison details SBF’s involvement in running Alameda
The German city of Karlsruhe is setting an example for sustainability in waste management by deploying a fleet of 18 Mercedes-Benz eEconic electric garbage trucks that are helping make the streets cleaner, quieter, and a lot less stinky.
Since the end of September, the city of Karlsruhe has been relying on Mercedes’ fully electric waste collection vehicles throughout, with none of the area-specific restrictions or limited rollout strategies for one or two trucks at a time that typically accompany stories like these. Instead, the city is using the Mercedes eEconics for the same stuff they’d use the diesel versions for: residual waste disposal, paper collection, and bulky waste collection.
Normal garbage duty, in other words. And, in such daily use, they do a great job. The trucks cover an average route distance of around 80 km (about 50 miles) on 112 kWh battery packs (usable capacity is ~97 kWh) which can be reliably completed in single-shift operation without intermediate charging — thanks, in part, to Mercedes’ efficient electric motors and regenerative braking that shines in the trucks’ typical stop-and-go duty cycles.
More than a single shift, in fact. The fleet managers report that after “a good 80 kilometers with around 60 stops on its daily route,” energy consumption was only around 35% of the battery capacity, meaning the charge level dropped from 100% to 65% and 64% respectively.
At the same time, CO₂ emissions are significantly reduced: depending on the area of application, each eEconic can save between 150 and 170 tons of CO₂ per year. This results in a total potential annual saving of around 1,200 tons of CO₂ emissions.
The purchase of the electric vehicles was funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV) as part of the guideline on the promotion of light and heavy commercial vehicles with alternative, climate-friendly drives and the associated refueling and charging infrastructure (KsNI). The funding guideline was coordinated by NOW GmbH, and applications were approved by the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility.
Electrek’s Take
Look, you know me. There is absolutely ZERO chance that I’ll be able to remain objective about anything that’s putting down more than four thousand lb-ft of torque. Make that thing quieter, cleaner, and generally better for me and my community, and there’s even less of a chance of me saying anything critical about it.
Here’s hoping more cities go electric rather sooner than later.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Daimler Truck.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Electreon just took a big step toward expanding wireless EV charging. The Israel-based company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to acquire the assets of InductEV, a Pennsylvania-based firm known for its ultra-fast, high-power static wireless charging systems used by heavy-duty electric transit and freight fleets.
If the deal closes after due diligence and regulatory approvals, the combined company would bring together Electreon’s dynamic wireless charging tech – the kind that can charge vehicles while they drive – with InductEV’s high-power stationary systems. That would create one of the most complete wireless charging portfolios on the market, covering everything from passenger EVs to vans, buses, heavy-duty trucks, and even autonomous vehicles.
Electreon and InductEV together hold around 400 granted and pending patents, and have a lot of field experience across their respective projects. Electreon says that pairing its manufacturing capabilities and global footprint with InductEV’s ultra-fast tech will help streamline and speed up fleet electrification.
Both companies already work with major vehicle OEMs, which Electreon asserts will make integrating wireless charging into future vehicle platforms easier.
Electreon CEO Oren Ezer said the deal would combine the two companies into “a truly global powerhouse for wireless EV charging.” He added that “the decision by InductEV’s shareholders to invest in Electreon is a tremendous vote of confidence in our shared vision.”
InductEV CEO John F. Rizzo said, “Together, we’re combining world-class innovation with real-world experience to deliver even greater value to our North American and European customers and accelerate the shift to wireless power for sustainable commercial transportation.”
Read more: Michigan installs the US’s first wireless EV charging public roadway
If you’re looking to replace your old HVAC equipment, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you’re finding a trusted, reliable HVAC installer near you that offers competitive pricing on heat pumps, check out EnergySage. EnergySage is a free service that makes it easy for you to get a heat pump. They have pre-vetted heat pump installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions. Plus, it’s free to use!
Your personalized heat pump quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here. – *ad
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
The Dolphin Surf is already one of Europe’s cheapest EVs, yet BYD may have an even more affordable electric car up its sleeve.
Is BYD launching the Racco mini EV in Europe?
BYD revealed the Racco at last month’s Japan Auto Show, its first EV designed exclusively for overseas markets.
The mini EV, or “kei car,” is launching in Japan, where over 1.55 million of them were sold last year, accounting for about a third of new vehicles sold.
Although Japan has been a brutal market for foreign brands to crack, BYD believes it may have an edge. The Racco measures 3,395 mm in length, 1,475 mm in width, and 1,800 mm in height, or about 600 mm longer than the Dolphin Surf.
That’s about the size of the Nissan Sakura EV, Japan’s best-selling electric car. Like the Sakura and most kei cars, the Racco has a boxy, upright stance. It has four doors, with the back two sliding open.
Powered by a 20 kWh battery pack, the mini EV is expected to have a driving range of around 180 km (112 miles).
BYD is using its Blade lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery packs to keep costs down. Although prices have yet to be revealed, the Racco is expected to start at around 2.5 million yen ($18,000) in Japan, putting it on par with the Nissan Sakura.
If it launched in Europe, the Racco could go on sale for under £15,000 ($20,000), putting it on par with the Dacia Spring (£14,995) and Leapmotor T03 (£15,995). The BYD Dolphin Surf currently starts at £18,650 ($24,300).
Although it will arrive in Japan first, BYD may launch its smallest, cheapest EV in Europe after all. BYD’s vice president Stella Li suggested to Autocar that the Racco could play a key role globally as an affordable, entry-level EV.
“In Japan, we are already launching a kei car; we will be very interested to follow the EU regulation,” Li said, adding, “If there’s some space, we can bring that car here.”
The regulation Li is referring to is the new “E-car” segment that the European Commission president, Ursula Von der Leyen, called for in September.
Von der Leyen said that Europe “should have its own E-car,” where “E” stands for efficient, economical, and European, and added “we cannot let China and others conquer this market.”
The Racco could sit underneath the Dolphin Surf in BYD’s growing European lineup. However, the company is focusing on expanding hybrid options. Li said launching Racco was “not a topic” the company is immediately focused on.
The Seal U, Europe’s best-selling plug-in hybrid through September, will be the first vehicle built at BYD’s new factory in Turkey, as it seeks to gain an edge through local production.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024