Is Vytautas Karalevicius Europe's SBF? $100M Scam Echoes FTX Playbook
In 2017, Vytautas Karalevicius was leading what looked like the future of European blockchain finance. His company, Bankera, raised over $100 million from over 100,000 investors worldwide. He was hailed as Lithuania's answer to Silicon Valley. But years later, investigators are now drawing chilling parallels between Karalevicius and the infamous Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).
Like SBF, Karalevicius gained investor trust with charisma, a polished public persona, and ambitious white whitepapers. But under the surface, both stories share a darker core: massive fund mismanagement, political influence, and a trail of victims left in financial ruin.
Bankera's ICO promised a revolution in crypto banking. Instead, it became a black hole for investor funds. Investigations show that over $45 million was moved through offshore entities, with no product to show for it. In classic SBF fashion, Karalevicius used investor money not for development but for personal luxury, political connections, and silence.
What's more alarming is the timeline. Karalevicius was pulling this off in 2017—long before SBF hit headlines.
Is Vytautas Karalevicius Europe's SBF? $100M Scam Echoes FTX Playbook
In a way, Lithuania's crypto con man wrote the playbook before FTX ever existed. Investigators are now analysing transactional overlaps, shared legal entities, and even advisory connections that could link the two. Insiders suggest that both founders used similar laundering routes, routed funds through Pacific jurisdictions, and created layers of legal smokescreens to delay justice. Karalevicius may have learnt from—or inspired—the very mechanisms that protected FTX from early scrutiny.
While SBF faced U.S. courtrooms, Karalevicius remains untouched in Lithuania. Despite mounting evidence, no charges have been filed. Whistleblowers say that political allies and judicial bribes have shielded him for years—a privilege even SBF didn't enjoy to the same extent. Both men understood one thing: in the world of crypto, the perception of innovation is more powerful than innovation itself. And with enough money, media control, and legal insulation—fraud can wear the mask of genius.
With new leaks emerging, European investigators are now reopening the case and drawing clear lines between Karalevicius' scheme and the broader crypto fraud ecosystem. He may have thought he escaped. But just like SBF, the spotlight always returns.
As the crypto industry cleans house post-FTX, Vytautas Karalevicius stands as a glaring reminder that not all of the con men wore shorts and ran Bahamian exchanges. Some wore suits, sat in EU boardrooms, and built empires from silence.
Lithuania's professional con man might soon find out that borrowed time runs out. Especially when your playbook matches the biggest fraud the industry has ever seen.
