Overview

This case begins to connect the dots between three crypto actors:

1. Sam Bankman-Fried [FTX/Alameda Research]
   The jailed CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, and owner of Alameda Research, the crooked hedge fund and market maker, that U.S. Attorney Damian Williams recently described as committing "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history."
2. Andrew Ross Sorkin [The New York Times]
   The star reporter and media pundit of The Times, who relished lauding Bankman-Fried as the "J.P. Morgan of Crypto," and invited him to his DealRoom conference, to speak alongside such luminaries as U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, and the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
3. Miguel Morel [Arkham Intelligence]
   The founder and CEO of Arkham, an American startup that launched by releasing the defamatory "Arkham ICP Report," which was mysteriously co-published by Sorkin at The Times — whose reputation turned it into a weapon of mass destruction.

The "Arkham ICP Report" leveled serious accusations against the DFINITY Foundation, the developer of the Internet Computer blockchain, which at the time was threatening to disrupt Bankman-Fried's key investments.

The report claimed that wrongdoings by insiders had caused the price of the network's ICP token to crash after its launch, May 10th 2021. The co-publication of the report by The Times lent credibility to the accusations, devastating the project's reputation and causing tremendous material harm across the network's ecosystem and self-reinforcing negative sentiment on social media.

In complete contrast to the narrative established by Arkham and The Times, our first case investigation, published a year later, established that the price of the Internet Computer network's ICP token was manipulated on Bankman-Fried's own FTX crypto exchange, and involved an "ICP-PERP" futures instrument that it mysteriously created just 4 days before the network launched. Bankman-Fried had an incentive to attack the Internet Computer, which threatened to disrupt his key investments, particularly into the Solana blockchain. (The case was also the first journalism to point to the lack of separation between Alameda Research and FTX, past accusations of price manipulation, and his extensive influence peddling.)

Our second case investigation (released at the same time as the first) determined that the "Arkham ICP Report" was made-to-order defamation.

This latest case now exposes the links between Bankman-Fried and Arkham Intelligence using video of conversations with Arkham insiders. Sorkin was a huge supporter of Bankman-Fried, who was a mega donor to his cherished political causes. The evidence begs the question: Was Bankman-Fried a hidden actor who called in favors to get the report made by Arkham, and co-published by The Times — which would make Arkham executives and Sorkin accomplices in a serious crime.

Before proceeding to the video evidence, we recap highlights from our two previous case investigations into Arkham Intelligence, which offer useful background:

Case #2 June 9, 2022

Crypto Leaks Case #2 investigated the backstory of the "Arkham ICP Report," sharing extensive research and video of conversations with Arkham insiders.

Key findings included:

• Arkham had a strange team: the core had strong links to a cult called Leverage Research, avoided creating profiles on the internet, and had a close associate who was an anti-Semitic neo-nazi staying with them.
• Arkham produced the report for a powerful actor, whom we could not identify at the time.
• The purpose of the report was to convince the world that the Internet Computer project was really a rug pull executed by the DFINITY Foundation — which had the effect of turning people away from an important science and engineering effort that promised to be highly disruptive to the blockchain status quo.
• When the report was published, Arkham only publicly listed a single employee, 21 year-old founder and CEO Miguel Morel. At the time, both Arkham and Miguel were unknown, with no prior histories on the internet.
• After publishing the report, Arkham appeared to come into substantial money, and moved their small team from rural Austin, Texas, to a luxury mansion in Chelsea, London, costing $43.5K a month.
• At the time of publication, Morel had no academic or professional experience relevant to creating reports. In fact, his only experience listed on LinkedIn was being a cryptocurrency trader and co-founder of a fringe cryptocurrency — indicating potentially unclean motives and further reasons it is inexplicable that The Times would co-publish his report with the intent of harming a network that had been created by hundreds of renowned cryptographers, engineers and computer scientists.
• Without Sorkin co-publishing the report in The Times, it would not have been taken seriously due to its origins. Co-publication by The Times ensured it caused vast reputational harm, and was used as a false factual basis for massive FUD campaigns and torrents of opportunistic lawsuits attacking DFINITY and its leadership.
• We noted that the hidden actor for whom the report was produced would also have organized its co-publication by The Times, and they likely had a preexisting relationship with Sorkin — as did Bankman-Fried.

After publishing the report, Arkham mysteriously went silent for well over a year, confirming that analysing, compiling and producing industry reports was not part of their ongoing business or area of expertise. (It was more than two years after publication that they launched their blockchain analysis service.)

Case #9 October 5, 2023

After getting tipped-off, Case #9 recently dedicated further investigative effort towards Arkham.

We shared video of Arkham insiders making new allegations:

• Unbeknownst to the crypto world, Arkham has attacked the Binance crypto exchange using a technical exploit that allowed them to link its users' emails to their private cryptocurrency addresses — which illegally obtained personal data they hope to profit from.
• Arkham wilfully ignored American securities laws, forcing an executive based in New York — who no longer works for Arkham — to use their mailing list to encourage retail investors to obtain ARKM tokens they created.
• They tried to separate an employee who was reluctantly involved in the exploit of Binance from the outside world, demanding he removed his social media profiles.
• Their CTO, Henry Fisher, acknowledged to the engineer that the exploit was not legal, but said if he were him he would do it, and promised legal support if there were problems with the law.
• Their CEO, Miguel Morel, who spent years at Paradigm Academy, an offshoot of the Leverage Research cult, also runs the Chelsea mansion where their core team is located like a cult.

There is no way Arkham alone could have persuaded Andrew Ross Sorkin at The Times to publish its flawed and defamatory "Arkham ICP Report." However, Bankman-Fried had a relationship with Sorkin, substantial means, and a powerful motive. In the following, we examine the relationship between Bankman-Fried and Arkham.

Conversations with Arkham's people

Introducing Sachin Dutta

Sachin Dutta was hired as Chief Growth Officer, and successful in the role. He was hired directly by Miguel Morel. He appeared in our previous case about Arkham.

The "FTX guy"

Dutta confirms that the Arkham leadership was close friends with the "FTX guy." They were planning to launch their new ARKM token on FTX.

Introducing Jean Guillaume Brasier

Brasier only worked at Arkham for 3 months, but was educated at Harvard and MIT and performed important work for them (our research shows Arkham Intelligence has great trouble retaining hires, despite receiving venture funding). His clear technical explanation of his role illustrates that he is likely a precise, honest and reliable engineering type.

Arkham's connections to Alameda Research

Brasier reveals that Arkham's services were supposed to be integrated into the FTX platform, reflecting Bankman-Fried's, or Gary Wang's, support for them. Brasier further mentions that they had close ties with people at Alameda, Bankman-Fried's hedge fund and market maker, which he used to siphon billions of dollars of FTX customer money and assets for his personal purposes. Brasier says Alameda Research was a user of Arkham's blockchain analysis services. (It's an open question whether the personal information of Binance users ever made its way to Alameda.)

With Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas

Brasier goes on to reveal that the leadership of Arkham was with Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas on the day before FTX crashed.

This demonstrates the strength of their ties, since in those final days, Bankman-Fried was highly focused on preventing his empire unravelling, which would expose his thefts and frauds, so he did not have time to spare.

“	involved in the FTX crash ... which was a bit weird ... they [Miguel Morel and Arkham] were with Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas

Miguel Morel and Henry Fisher both knew Bankman-Fried

We ask Dutta whether he met Bankman-Fried. He says not, but he says that his CEO and CTO definitely have.

They were friends with Gary Wang

Miguel Morel and Henry Fisher, the CEO and CTO of Arkham Intelligence, knew Gary Wang, the CTO of FTX, who has pled guilty to serious criminal charges, from the San Francisco hacker house scene. Thus, the connection between Arkham Intelligence and FTX (and by implication, Alameda Research, since there was no real separation) goes way back, and they were far more than simple business associates. There were strong bonds of trust.

“	they were friends with the CTO, Gary Wang ... so that's how they got to know each other

Other evidence

We are not alone in being interested in the connection between Alameda Research/FTX and Arkham Intelligence. Crypto sleuths have also been hard at work, with with this Twitter thread showing how the crypto wallet of Henry Fisher, Arkham's CTO, received its first deposit from a wallet that appears to belong to FTX itself.

What next

Crypto Leaks will not stop investigating and will continue to act on all tips and evidence until it reveals precisely how Arkham got Andrew Ross Sorkin to publish the defamation report. This case continues the investigative work of earlier cases, and will be followed by more cases until we have answers.

Exposing what happened is crucial to the health of the blockchain ecosystem, because it reveals how a small group of elite insiders can attack even important scientific and engineering projects like the Internet Computer, motivated purely by financial gain, and without even a fleeting reference to a moral compass, in a firm belief they are untouchable. Notably, the individuals we address here do not contribute technology or other advancements to the ecosystem themselves.

We welcome additional information from Miguel Morel, Henry Fisher, Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, and Andrew Ross Sorkin that will help clarify matters.

At this critical juncture, it would be a compelling gesture of goodwill if the investor directors of Arkham Intelligence demand they now be transparent about their past and make statements.

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