One British man reportedly lost millions of dollars when the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX imploded in November.
According to a new BBC report, Sunil Kavuri may have suffered the largest amount of investment losses from the FTX scandal than any other British citizen.
Kavuri tells the BBC that he started worrying about his crypto investments on the FTX exchange when he got a message that withdrawals were suspended on the platform.
“I was on the computer for basically 24 hours refreshing the page and trying to email the FTX support desk to get my money out. I felt sick. I just thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s it. I’ve lost everything.’”
According to the BBC, Kavuri was planning to use his crypto investments to buy a new house and to pay for his son’s college education.
The platform’s suspension of customers’ withdrawals came as the crypto empire built up by disgraced former FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried crumbled around him.
Bankman-Fried was eventually charged by US prosecutors for allegedly mishandling billions of dollars worth of customer funds and defrauding investors. His trial is expected to begin next week.
Kavuri is blaming Bankman-Fried for his losses.
“Sam Bankman-Fried has literally destroyed so many people’s lives…
One person in Turkey was left with only $600 (£490) in their bank account after losing everything and one in Korea was hospitalized with panic attacks.”
Kavuri has also filed two civil lawsuits including one against celebrities and crypto influencers supporting FTX.
Kavuri says that FTX’s well-established investment partners such as Sequoia Capital helped boost his confidence in the exchange.
“I saw that massive groups [had] basically given their stamp of approval to FTX and I thought, ‘OK, this must be a legitimate exchange.’”
Kavuri continues to hope he will recover at least some of his lost funds.
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