EXCLUSIVE: Sam Bankman-Fried Was A Programming Student Of Former FTX US President, Claims He Couldn't Code Were 'Completely False, One Of His Many Lies'

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on seven counts of criminal fraud in a highly publicized trial that ended in early November.

A former FTX employee shared with Benzinga some insight into business at FTX and more.

What Happened: Now the founder and CEO of Architect, Brett Harrison was the president of FTX US until he stepped down in September 2022.

While at FTX, Harrison helped build out regulated platforms including the company's stock brokerage. Harrison told a small roundtable audience at the Benzinga Future of Digital Assets conference that he wrote nearly 100% of the code for the FTX US stock brokerage platform.

The position at FTX came from Harrison's experience working for regulated financial companies.

Harrison reflected on the projects that were being built at FTX prior to the company declaring bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried's arrest.

"There were many extremely sound and promising businesses," Harrison said. "Before Sam destroyed it all."

Harrison recognized there were many victims from the collapse of FTX and Bankman-Fried's crimes including investors and customers.

Another set of victims was also the employees at FTX who put their blood, sweat and tears into building the business, Harrison said.

Related Link: Exclusive: Crypto World Pivots Beyond Bankman-Fried Era In Wake Of FTX Scandal

Teaching Sam Bankman-Fried: The Benzinga Future of Digital Assets event was hosted on Nov. 14 in New York City in a building where Harrison once worked for Jane Street Capital.

While at Jane Street Capital, Harrison once taught Bankman-Fried, his brother Gabriel and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.

"I knew Sam from Jane Street," Harrison said.

Harrison recalled that he used to teach the new students at Jane Street how to program.

"Sam was one of my programming students at Jane Street, Caroline too."

Harrison said he didn't interact with Ellison as much in the class but worked with Bankman-Fried a bunch. Years later, Bankman-Fried claimed he couldn't program.

"That was completely false, one of his many lies."  

While working at Citadel, Harrison was shown articles about the rise of FTX by a colleague and remembered working with Bankman-Fried. After a text exchange back and forth, Harrison was asked by Bankman-Fried if he wanted to join the company.

Harrison resigned from FTX in September 2022 and is now the founder and CEO of Architect, a financial technologies company specializing in derivatives and trading technology.

Read Next: 30 Web3 Experts To Watch: Brett Harrison Architect At The Nexus Of AI And Crypto

Photo: Sam Bankman-Fried via Shutterstock