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We need an independent investigation into how EA leadership has handled SBF and FTX
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AnonymousEAForumAccount
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3/5
Good(3)Good quality. Reputable source with community review or editorial standards, but less rigorous than peer-reviewed venues.
Rating inherited from publication venue: EA Forum
Written in the aftermath of FTX's November 2022 collapse, this post reflects community debate over EA's governance failures and the movement's relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried as its largest donor.
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141
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53
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eaforum
Forum Tags
Building effective altruismCommunityEffective VenturesCentre for Effective AltruismCriticism of effective altruist organizationsCriticism of the effective altruism communityCriticism of work in effective altruismFTX collapseFTX FoundationSam Bankman-FriedTransparencyWilliam MacAskill
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Importance: 42/100opinion piececommentary
Summary
This post calls for an independent investigation into EA leadership's handling of Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, documenting apparent discrepancies between public statements from EA leaders and media reports about prior knowledge of misconduct. The author argues EA leadership was insufficiently transparent about their relationship with SBF as a major donor and failed to adequately acknowledge warnings before FTX's collapse.
Key Points
- •Documents discrepancies between EA leaders' public statements and credible media reports about their prior knowledge of SBF's misconduct at Alameda and FTX.
- •Argues EA leadership was insufficiently transparent about SBF's role as a major donor and board member in EA-affiliated organizations.
- •Calls for a formal, independent investigation rather than internal review to ensure accountability and credibility.
- •Highlights alleged failures to act on warnings about unethical behavior, inappropriate relationships, and potential criminal activity before FTX's collapse.
- •Raises broader concerns about EA's governance structures and the risks of over-reliance on a single major donor.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| EA Epistemic Failures in the FTX Era | -- | 84.0 |
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# We need an independent investigation into how EA leadership has handled SBF and FTX
By AnonymousEAForumAccount
Published: 2024-07-24
Summary
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Rebecca Kagan [believes](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dtHZqi4fSQKor6TYY/quick-update-on-leaving-the-board-of-ev) “EA needs an investigation, done externally and shared publicly, on mistakes made in the EA community’s relationship with FTX.” She is [far](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/PAG3DJtoZeGtz488f/why-hasn-t-ea-done-an-sbf-investigation-and-postmortem) [from](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/PAG3DJtoZeGtz488f/why-hasn-t-ea-done-an-sbf-investigation-and-postmortem?commentId=qZAzgyfyAuirKHkFA) [the](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/SNiAdmnWw4cCF3CXF/to-what-extent-and-how-did-ea-indirectly-contribute-to) [only](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/BvnbcsGh8gQ86cTqr/recent-and-upcoming-media-related-to-ea?commentId=gZXjPx7TXrnKwx5GW) [person](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dtHZqi4fSQKor6TYY/quick-update-on-leaving-the-board-of-ev?commentId=sZNQWMmEKY8cAGdfm) who has called for an independent investigation, but Kagan’s experience and knowledge as a former board member of Effective Ventures makes her perspective particularly relevant.
Explaining her decision to resign from EV’s board, Kagan wrote:
> “I want to make it clear that I resigned last year due to significant disagreements with the board of EV and EA leadership, particularly concerning their actions leading up to and after the FTX crisis… I believe there were extensive and significant mistakes made which have not been addressed. (In particular, some EA leaders had warning signs about SBF that they ignored, and instead promoted him as a good person, tied the EA community to FTX, and then were uninterested in reforms or investigations after the fraud was revealed).
In this post, I describe a large and growing body of evidence that is consistent with Kagan’s concerns about (some parts of) EA leadership.[^er1rz4b5zhc] To summarize my review of the public record:
* **Communications from EA leaders have not been forthcoming** about important factual matters including SBF’s tenure on CEA’s board, his brief tenure as a CEA employee, and his status as one of 80k and CEA’s largest donors before he even founded Alameda.
* **There are worrisome discrepancies between comments (or lack thereof) from EA leaders and credible media reports** about important issues. These include whether leaders knew about allegations of unethical behavior by SBF in the wake of the Alameda dispute, whether they were aware of allegations of inappropriate sexual relationships, and whether a Slack group of EA leaders ignored warnings just four months prior to FTX’s collapse that SBF was under criminal investigation.
* **EA leaders have made public claims about post-FTX reforms that could easily be construed as misleading**, most notably framing Effective Ventures’ board changes as “institutional reform” when K
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