In a conversation with Dallas Maverick basketball owner Mark Cuban, Jon Stewart shared his opinion on the “ups and downs” of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. According to Stewart, Bankman-Fried has become an important player in the crypto industry not at all because of FTX or investment firm Alameda. That was because Bankman-Fried had millions of dollars to give to the political system, Stewart said.
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“Bankman-Fried’s goal was to bring discord to certain parts of the financial system, i.e., the cryptocurrency industry. And when I look at the tangled workings of Wall Street, it’s not much different from what Bankman-Fried was pulling off,” said the US broadcaster.
Mark Cuban agreed with him, adding that FTX’s activities are no different from congressional stock trading and conflicts of interest on Wall Street, referring to “legalized corruption” in the US. As Cuban put it, “money buys power.”. He cited the case of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who bought the social media platform Twitter/X. And in the case of Bankman-Fried, he “bought” politicians, Cuban clarified.
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“It takes a couple of frauds for the bubble to burst. Participants in the crypto space will now get their act together, but that won’t be the case in government and politics. Everyone is still corrupt,” Cuban said.
Earlier, John Deaton, a lawyer who defends cryptocurrency companies, also spoke out about his suspicions that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler may have colluded with Bankman-Fried to protect FTX from regulatory scrutiny. Last week, the court ordered Bankman-Fried to return to jail for bail violations.