Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX workforce left depressed, unable to find work after crypto firm’s downfall: report

Some of Sam Bankman-Fried’s former staffers from his now-bankrupt FTX have reportedly struggled to land another job and have battled depression since the cryptocurrency exchange’s stunning downfall.

Natalie Tien, who led public relations for FTX and was also Bankman-Fried’s executive assistant, saw at least $500,000 in personal investments tied up in FTX and various crypto coins vanish upon FTX’s collapse in November 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Tien told the Journal that in the months after Bankman-Fried was found out for having swiped FTX user funds to plug an $8 billion debt at sister company and failing hedge fund Alameda Research, she suffered from depression and would cry randomly in public, including in a New York City grocery store.

Tien attended Bankman-Fried’s trial last fall in an effort to get closure, but couldn’t help feeling saddened when her ex-boss was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said during sentencing that the 32-year-old former billionaire “presented himself as the good guy” in favor of “appropriate regulation of the crypto industry” — but that his friendly persona was just an “act.”

Kaplan said Bankman-Fried had an “apparent lack of any real remorse,” and also ordered the fallen mogul to pay back more than $11 billion to FTX’s users, investors and lenders.