‘Ninth circle of hell’ is reserved for SBF for his betrayal: Scaramucci

SkyBridge Capital handling partner Anthony Scaramucci has opened about the “betrayal” he felt by the actions of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, whom he stated he once considered a friend.Speaking at Casper Lab

‘s Blockchain Hub occasion in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, Scaramucci stressed that in the consequences of the FTX fiasco, he felt “betrayed” by Bankman-Fried given that he had a close friendship with both him and his family.

“I need to tell you that the betrayal and the scams, it’s bad on a great deal of various levels, it certainly hurt me reputationally, however I’m simply talking about the visceral relationship with somebody,” he stated, including:

“If any person here has checked out Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, you know what the ninth circle of Hell is scheduled for […] It’s for the betrayal of a buddy who copes with the devil– the ninth circle of hell on the frozen lake.”

Discussing his relationship with Bankman-Fried in additional detail, Scaramucci eventually confessed that he bet on somebody he trusted and “got it wrong.”

“I’m a high-profile individual so my errors get hugely magnified, [that’s] completely great but I’m not gon na stop the risk-taking,” he stated, adding: “I thought Sam was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto, I did not believe he was the Bernie Madoff of crypto.”

However, the SkyBridge creator has not been deterred by the entire ordeal, as he highlighted that he has made a career off of taking risks, and as such he’ll “most likely make that error once again.”

Similarly, Scaramucci’s faith in crypto in has actually not been shaken either, as he stressed that FTX’s personal bankruptcy had nothing to do with the underlying worth proposition of the technology.

“That’s why we have blockchain and crypto, due to the fact that we’re trying to produce a decentralized circumstance where we don’t need to like or trust each other. […] We can transact with each other in a manner where the innovation essentially sanctifies.”

Related: Crypto community unimpressed by SBF’s prolonged Substack letter

As Scaramucci discussed to CNBC on Jan. 13, SkyBridge is currently dealing with buying back a 30% stake in the business, which it offered to FTX for an undisclosed charge back in September.

Significantly, the offer happened simply two months before FTX filed for bankruptcy. Scaramucci mentioned that after all the legal details are sorted, the buyback might go through before the 2nd half of this year.

Once that buyback goes through, Scaramucci will still have some loose ties to FTX through a financial investment he made into a crypto company founded by former FTX United States president Brett Harrison. He verified the move to Bloomberg through e-mail this week.

At this latest Blockchain Hub occasion, Scaramucci laid out that it’s important to back and support buddies like Harrison, who has beenhaving a difficult time due to his association with FTX.

Harrison has obviously distanced himself from the antics of SBF and his inner circle, and especially stepped down from the company in September.