A fugitive crypto hedge fund founder has smiled as he refuses to apologize for spending billions of investors’ cash before his company imploded.
Kyle Davies and his business partner Su Zhu face more than $3.5 billion in creditor claims after their bankrupt fund, Three Arrows Capital (3AC), collapsed amid the 2022 crypto downturn.
While Zhu was arrested and served three months in prison for failing to coordinate with the liquidators, Davies managed to avoid the same fate by remaining on the run.
During an appearance this week on the Unchained podcast, where he declined to reveal his whereabouts, Davies smiled when asked if he had any remorse over losing billions of investors’ money.
“Am I sorry for a company going bankrupt? No, businesses go bankrupt, almost all businesses go bankrupt, right? he said.
Kyle Davies, the co-founder of failed crypto hedge fund 3AC, smiled as he refused to apologize for the loss of billions in investors’ cash, saying that “almost every company goes bankrupt, right?”
Kyle Davies and his business partner Su Zhu (right). In September 2023, Zhu was arrested at Singapore’s Changi Airport for contempt of court after ignoring orders to comply with liquidators.
Davies and Zhu founded 3AC in 2012 and raked in billions from investors as cryptocurrencies soared.
At its peak, the fund managed around $18 billion, but suffered heavy losses when the LUNA and Terra cryptocurrencies collapsed.
According to Capital.comthe founders then defaulted on their loans after the collapse of their hedge fund, which was also due in part to their borrowing from more than 20 institutions.
As investors seek to recoup their billions, rulings from courts in the British Virgin Islands, then Singapore and the United States, have struggled to stop Davies.
In September 2023, Zhu was arrested at Singapore’s Changi Airport for contempt of court after ignoring orders to comply with liquidators. However, Davies claimed on his podcast this week that they did not know they were wanted.
Asked by host Laura Shin if he planned to fire lawyers who failed to notify them of the court date, he replied: “Maybe we should do that.”
He said Zhu clearly did not know, otherwise he would never have returned to Singapore, which is why he did not return to the country despite renouncing his US citizenship to obtain Singaporean citizenship.
“Su’s prison sentence certainly surprised him, no one wants to go to prison,” Davies added. New York Review.
Su Zhu (left) was wanted by officials from Singapore, the Virgin Islands and the United States. Zhu was arrested last year and spent three months behind bars, while Davies remains at large.
Davies refused to give his location, and viewers of his recent podcast appearance reacted with fury over his cavalier attitude to the loss of billions.
Davies (left) and Zhu (right). At its peak, the fund managed around $18 billion, but suffered heavy losses when the LUNA and Terra cryptocurrencies collapsed.
During an appearance this week on the Unchained podcast, where he declined to reveal his whereabouts, Davies smiled when asked if he had any remorse over losing billions of investors’ money.
Davies was also sentenced to the same four-month prison term as Zhu by Singaporean authorities, but his whereabouts remain a mystery – although he reportedly told the outlet he was in Portugal in February.
He added that while he would not return to Singapore “immediately”, given the threat of prison, he felt that “obviously these things get resolved at some point, there are settlements”.
Many reacted with fury to Davies’ attitude during his podcast appearance, as he appeared to take a flippant approach to talking about lost money.
“It’s how you build or what you do about it. We’re definitely doing our best,” he said when asked about his regrets.
“We can add value in different ways. At the very least, we can even tell the next Three Arrows how to do things better when they go bankrupt.
His talk about “building” from collapsed businesses comes as scrutiny also focused on a startup launched in April 2023 by the founders of 3AC, OPNC, a bankruptcy claims exchange.
According to Coin OfficeOPNX was officially reprimanded by Dubai’s crypto regulator for operating an unregulated exchange within a month of its creation.
By February 2024, the stock market had been closed.
The two founders are pictured hard at work, before the crypto fund collapses in 2022.
Zhu still frequently offers crypto advice on his widely followed Twitter account.
AC3’s demise came at the same time that other crypto heavyweights were facing a similar fate, including Sam Bankman-Fried (pictured center), who faces more than 100 years in prison.
And while Davies continues to make appearances in the cryptosphere, Zhu – who was released in December for good behavior – has remained active thanks to his Twitter accountwhere he still offers business advice.
Their demise came at the same time that other crypto heavyweights were also facing consequences, as many said the vulnerabilities of the cryptocurrency sector were becoming increasingly evident.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the famous Bahamian crypto company FTX, was convicted of one of the largest financial frauds in history while Zhu was behind bars.
He is awaiting sentencing, scheduled for March 28. He faces more than 100 years in prison.
At the same time, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering violations, and the trader behind Luna – who helped lead to the collapse of 3AC – received the ordered to be extradited to the United States and South Korea.
While Bankman-Fried was convicted by US prosecutors as one of the worst financial criminals in history, the disgraced trader directly blamed the broader crypto collapse of 2022 on 3AC.
“I suspect they might account for 80 percent of the total initial contagion,” he said. New York Review in 2022.
“They weren’t the only ones who blew up, but they did it way more than anyone else. And before that, they had a lot more trust from the ecosystem.