Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and chief executive officer of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, during a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. Serious red flags around Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX emerged before the now-embattled cryptocurrency exchange even launched, according to an early would-be investor. Alex Pack, now the managing partner of New York-based venture capital firm Hack VC, said he met Bankman-Fried in 2018. Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO of FTX last Friday as the crypto company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In 2018, Bankman-Fried was a relatively unknown founder seeking a deal in the emerging crypto market.

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