Binance's Chief Strategy Officer, Patrick Hilmann, has accused Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, of consistently criticizing Binance's CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) before FTX's collapse. Hilmann called this behavior "shading" and alleged that SBF frequently spread fake rumors about CZ and referred to him as an "evil Chinese." Hilmann's tweet was based on a report by veteran business writer William Cohan, which included comments from financier Anthony Scaramucci.
Scaramucci stated that SBF's behavior was worrisome and that it had become a norm for him to bad-mouth CZ. During a $1 billion fundraising trip to the UAE in the weeks leading up to FTX's collapse, SBF met with officials and bad-mouthed CZ. Scaramucci suggested that SBF's remarks may have pushed CZ to announce that he would liquidate his $500 million investment in FTX's native token (FTT).
