The mysterious man behind the FTX disaster: Acting as a super connector, helping Sam Bankman-Fried expand his relationship, polish his name

About 10 months before being arrested for fraud, ‘crypto mogul’ Sam Bankman-Fried took a commemorative photo at the 2022 Super Bowl event, Inglewood, California. On one side is Orlando Bloom – Katy Perry, on the other is actress Kate Hudson and right in the center, playing Bankman-Fried, is a little-known character: Michael Kives.

Michael Kives, the Hollywood investor, plays a key role in Bankman-Fried’s business empire: hyperconnectivity. He and his business partner Bryan Baum have helped the young founder cultivate relationships with Orlando Bloom, singer Katy Perry, former President Bill Clinton and a host of celebrities and dignitaries, from Leonardo DiCaprio to the governor of Saudi Arabia.

This is a win-win relationship, mutually beneficial. Court filings show Bankman-Fried poured $700 million into Kives’ venture capital firm. Kives, the company’s founder and face, and business partner Baum each received $125 million as part of the deal.

Previously, Sam Bankman-Fried admitted Kives was “the person with the most connections” that helped him establish connections with politicians and celebrities.

Michael Kives and Bryan Baum are part of a secret network of intermediaries, tasked with introducing and attracting celebrities to the once-popular cryptocurrency industry. Before it collapsed last year, massive acclaim from Hollywood stars, professional athletes, businessmen and notorious politicians made cryptocurrencies more credible than ever.

Immediately after the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange “falled”, many text messages, lavish parties and “winged” invitations were revealed. FTX lawyers have sued Kives’ firm, K5 Global, and demanded the recovery of a $700 million investment that was used to help Bankman-Fried “polish its political and social influence.” In response, K5 spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford said the lawsuit was baseless and believed the company had a legitimate business relationship with Bankman-Fried.

Once an assistant to former President Clinton, Michael Kives started working for Creative Artists Agency in 2003 – a company that specializes in representing famous actors such as Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger. At Kives’ wedding in 2019 in Palm Springs, Katy Perry was also present and sang for the young couple.

Kives founded K5 in 2018 with Baum, a co-founder of a software company acquired by Lyft. K5 mainly invests in startups, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boring Company. The cumulative portfolio includes nearly 150 companies.

At the end of 2021, Kives leveraged his relationship to meet Bankman-Fried – who has emerged as a crypto phenomenon. Two days before last year’s Super Bowl, the CEO attended Kives’ house party in Beverly Hills, California; exchange with Katy Perry and actress Bloom. Katy Perry later shared on Instagram that she would give up music to become an ‘FTX trainee’.

Bankman-Fried gives many compliments to Kives. Y then granted K5 partners access to the entire internal messaging channel of FTX.

In April 2022, Bankman-Fried held a 4-day cryptocurrency conference in the Bahamas. Bloom and Katy Perry also attended the event at Baha Mar resort, dining together and chatting with many high-class guests.

At the Super Bowl that year, Bankman-Fried had the opportunity to meet Bobby Kotick, CEO of the video game company Activision Blizzard. Kives tried to bolster the relationship, passing on a dinner invitation from Mr. Kotick to Bankman-Fried in April 2022. He also urged Elon Musk to work with Bankman-Fried to speed up the acquisition.

It is known that the relationship Elon Musk – Michael Kives is so close that whenever he comes to Los Angeles, the Tesla CEO will often stay at Kives’ Beverly Hills mansion.

“It’s great to do this with Sam Bankman-Fried,” Kives said.

Last June, Bankman-Fried attended a charity event at Casa Cipriani. Actor DiCaprio was also present and of course, “fallen” in the sights of Kives.

During that time, Kives also bridged Bankman-Fried with MasterClass, a celebrity website. The former FTX CEO then recorded a speech about the cryptocurrency.

Along with Michael Kives, Bryan Baum also acted as the hyperconnector. Last year, a meeting between Bankman-Fried and billionaire investor Nelson Peltz was arranged by him. Peltz was so impressed that he invited Bankman-Fried to attend the wedding of his daughter and Brooklyn Beckham (David Beckham’s son).

Months later, Baum also helped Bankman-Fried arrange a meeting in Miami with Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida. He also arranged for Bankman-Fried to appear with Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, at a conference in New York.

In November, FTX was ‘in jeopardy’. Baum and Kives immediately contacted billionaires and private equity firms to help Bankman-Fried raise large amounts of cash. Of course, no one agreed.

Most recently, the bankruptcy unit that took over FTX sued K5 Global investment fund, asking them to return $ 700 million previously received. The FTX side accused K5 Global and its founders, Michael Kives and Bryan Baum, of participating in a conspiracy to extract assets of FTX and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, thereby appropriating it for personal gain. In addition, K5 Global was also accused of using investment money for the wrong purpose, not to serve FTX, Alameda Research or users.

By: The New York Times