A Binance executive has accused SBF of intentionally painting Binance CEO CZ as an “evil Chinese” in a recent Twitter exchange. The exchange has sparked controversy, with some accusing SBF of racism, while others defend his criticism of Binance’s business practices.

A Binance executive has claimed that the former head of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, regularly spread false rumors and denigrated his rival, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ). The executive referred to CZ as SBF’s ‘Darth Vader’. This behavior reportedly occurred before the collapse of SBF’s FTX and Alameda Research empire.

A great read by @WilliamCohan at @PuckNews. One thing they missed, Sam was CONSTANTLY spreading fake rumors about @cz_binance, because shading him as an "evil Chinese" was critical to his scam. You can't pretend to be Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader.https://t.co/oi9JxsqPyz

— Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) April 20, 2023

Patrick Hillmann, Binance’s Chief Strategy Officer, commented on an article about Anthony Scaramucci and SBF, calling it a “great read.” Hillmann went on to claim that SBF regularly spread fake rumors about Binance CEO CZ, portraying him as an “evil Chinese” to support his own scam. This echoes similar comments made by CZ about being targeted by rivals, regulators, and the media due to his ethnicity. In January, SBF denied responsibility for the failure of FTX and Alameda Research, instead blaming market conditions and a tweet from CZ announcing Binance’s liquidation of FTT token holdings.