Sam Bankman-Fried was removed on Wednesday from the website for the Giving Pledge, a promise by billionaires to give away the majority of their wealth in their lifetimes or wills.
The 30-year-old founder of crypto exchange FTX was once worth $26 billion and promised to donate his money to charity. The collapse of his empire last month left him with “next to nothing,” he said.
This week, his downfall reached new lows: He was arrested Monday in the Bahamas after the US government filed a criminal indictment, following weeks of speculation that FTX client funds were misused. He’s now sitting in jail after a judge denied him bail because of concerns he’s a flight risk.
In his initial Giving Pledge letter, Bankman-Fried had kept it short: “A while ago I became convinced that our duty was to do the most we could for the long run aggregate utility of the world. In the end, it’s the work my friends and colleagues at foundations do that matters the most. A more just world would shine a brighter light on them. In this world, I’m honored to be able to support their work.”
Before his implosion, Bankman-Fried had been picking up his philanthropy, with a focus on effective altruism, a philosophy of charitable giving that tries to have the greatest impact by carefully spending money to solve problems.
Bankman-Fried set up his FTX Future Fund earlier this year with a team that made more than $100 million in grants to individuals and organizations in the effective altruism space. Another $90 million in promised grants had yet to be paid when FTX and more than 100 related entities filed for bankruptcy in November.
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