09 Dec 2022
Alameda Research Secretly Funded Crypto News Site “The Block”
The CEO of The Block has received undisclosed funding from Sam Bankman-Fried's hedge fund, as reported by the news outlet.
After they discovered that Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO of FTX, had made hidden loans to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, the CEO of cryptocurrency news site The Block, resigned.
The company's CEO, Michael McCaffrey, controlled three different LLCs that received loans from Alameda, the first of which was used to finance the $12 million April 2021 purchase of The Block by the LLC MJMCCAFFREY, according to a report by Axios.
They informed no one else at the company of these loans.
The Block received a second $15 million loan through Lonely Road LLC in January 2022. According to the report, the third loan of $16 million…
“went to an LLC named Red Sea that McCaffrey used, in part, to buy [a] Bahamas apartment.”
Bobby Moran, the Chief Revenue Officer of The Block, will take over as CEO, and the business will attempt to restructure to gain McCaffrey's stake in the organization.
The report outlined the
“...news came as a shock to The Block's editorial leadership, who sources say are livid about McCaffrey's failure to disclose such a close and critical financial partnership with Bankman-Fried and Alameda…”
The Block's vice president of research, Larry Cermak, said
“Mike never asked me or anyone in research to cover FTX or SBF in any particular way. Or anyone else, for that matter. We had complete discretion to do our jobs.”
The Block's news director, Frank Chaparro, tweeted the following statement:
Disclaimer: Nothing on this site should be construed as a financial investment recommendation. It’s important to understand that investing is a high-risk activity. Investments expose money to potential loss.
