Alameda co-founder leaves: Departure due to concerns about SBF's character and manipulative behavior, SBF expects employees to work 18 hours a day

ChainCatcher news, according to DL News, Michael Lewis, the author of "The Big Short," revealed in his new book "Going Infinite" that Tara Mac Aulay, who co-founded the hedge fund Alameda with FTX founder SBF in 2017 and left in April 2018 with other management team members, stated that her decision to leave was partly due to "concerns about risk management and business ethics," as well as the disappearance of tens of millions of dollars from FTX's hedge fund division. Lewis noted in the book that Aulay had long considered SBF to be dishonest and manipulative.

Aulay revealed that working with SBF was not easy. "SBF had high demands, expecting everyone to work 18 hours a day and give up any semblance of a normal life. He often missed meetings, went weeks without showering, and had old food piled around him. Falling asleep at the desk was common." Most of the team's time was spent trying to control Bankman-Fried's insatiable trading appetite. Ben West, a member of the five-person management team, stated, "The entire management team wanted to leave."

SBF's complete disregard for risk management led to Aulay's departure. Lewis indicated that by early 2018, Alameda's financial situation was in a "chaotic state." Its trading system had lost about $14 million, but its staff could not quantify the exact amount. One Alameda employee noted that $4 million worth of XRP tokens were also missing. Mac Aulay, the entire management team, and half of the staff left Alameda on April 9, 2018. They received severance packages ranging from $1 million to $2 million.