Brett Harrison worked at the exchange's American arm for just 17 months — and announced he was stepping down in September 2022.
The former president of FTX US has given a warts-and-all insight into what it was like working with Sam Bankman-Fried — accusing the embattled entrepreneur of "hostility, gaslighting and manipulation."
Brett Harrison worked at the exchange's American arm for just 17 months — and announced he was stepping down in September 2022. Just six weeks later, FTX was tipped into bankruptcy as allegations of fraud and criminality came to the surface.
But in a 49-part Twitter thread that was published on Saturday, Harrison stressed that he was not a part of SBF's criminal "scheme" — and said that the 30-year-old's inner circle appears to have concealed illicit activity from other subsidiaries.
According to Harrison, his relationship with Bankman-Fried "had reached a point of total deterioration" just a few months after taking the helm at FTX US — exacerbated by a series of disputes over management practices.
They had initially worked together while at the trading firm Jane Street, with Harrison remembering SBF as a "conscientious junior trader" who showed promise — "a sensitive and intellectually curious person who cared about animals."
And while Harrison said he was excited to be jumping back into the world of crypto — after seeing glowing reports of FTX's progress in the media — it didn't take long before reality was struggling to match up with expectations.
"From the start, I noticed that while Sam was rarely engaged on the U.S. business, decisions impacting the U.S. would come, without warning, from the Bahamas."
Harrison said "pronounced cracks" began to form in the working relationship he had with SBF — and his pleas for FTX US to be treated separately and independently of the international arm fell on deaf ears.
"I saw in that early conflict his total insecurity and intransigence when his decisions were questioned, his spitefulness, and the volatility of his temperament. I realized he wasn’t who I remembered."
The former FTX US president said that he initially felt sympathetic toward SBF, writing:
"Like many of us, I have family and friends who live with addiction and mental health problems, and I’ve seen how these problems often manifest without much warning in early adulthood. I thought that might be a contributing factor."
Indeed, mental health care and treatment for substance abuse are factors of Bankman-Fried's bail conditions — but back when he was working at the company, Harrison said that he didn't know SBF well enough to reflect on the question. For him, the matter at hand was this: decisions were being made that he disagreed with.
"There was tremendous pressure not to disagree with Sam, but I did so anyway. At that time, and for all of my time at FTX US, his influence over the media, FTX’s partners, the venture capital industry, and the traditional finance industry was pervasive and unyielding."
Harrison claimed that it was "nearly impossible" to get his voice heard because there was an implication that he was in the wrong — and despite the fact that FTX US had been staffed out by experienced professionals, their counsel wasn't taken on board.
"Our collective experience and professional acumen were frequently treated as though they were irrelevant and valueless. It was extremely frustrating for all of us."
'Isolated'
Even before FTX's implosion — and the uncomfortable round of media interviews that soon followed — Bankman-Fried often cut an awkward figure. Harrison also gave a greater insight into how this translated into the workplace, writing:
"Sam was uncomfortable with conflict. He responded at times with dysregulated hostility, at times with gaslighting and manipulation, but ultimately chose to isolate me from communication on key decision-making."
Critical business decisions were now being made behind his back, Harrison said — leaving him with no choice but to make a formal complaint about "the largest organizational problems inhibiting FTX's future success." This was accompanied by a warning that he would resign unless the problems were addressed.
But in yet another bombshell, Harrison's damning Twitter thread then reveals:
"I was threatened on Sam’s behalf that I would be fired and that Sam would destroy my professional reputation. I was instructed to formally retract what I'd written and to deliver an apology to Sam that had been drafted for me."
According to Harrison, this was a key factor in his decision to leave — even though it risked being harmful to the company and his employees. He describes getting his workers through their mid-year reviews and finishing a few critical features before shifting his focus to creating a company of his own.
And while he believed that many of the issues he was concerned about amounted to nothing more than the growing pains that are typically seen at start-ups, Harrison added:
"I never could have guessed that underlying these kinds of issues — which I’d seen at other more mature firms in my career and believed not to be fatal to business success — was multibillion-dollar fraud."
Harrison went on to stress that he and other FTX US had no role in the alleged mismanagement of funds at FTX International and Alameda Research, adding:
"If any one of us had suspected let alone learned the truth, we would have reported them immediately."
Nonetheless, his association with FTX does appear to have come at some professional cost. Harrison described how some venture capitalists have been reluctant to get involved with his new business because it's too much of a PR risk.
"The last few months have provided me with a valuable character study of the industry. Some treated me like an entirely different person overnight, some immediately offered sympathy and support. It will be a difficult experience to forget."
Harrison went on to point out that he has not been accused of wrongdoing, nor is he a target in any investigation — lashing out at those on Crypto Twitter who have made "frenzied and baseless accusations."
Overall, he's described his time at FTX US — and the fallout that's happened since — as "the most devastating and destabilizing event of my professional life."
