Broward School Superintendent Vickie Cartwright finally addressed the growing scandal surrounding an FTX Hackathon won by three Broward students. As REDBROWARD first reported in November, the 2022 FTX Hackathon and Crypto Summit offered a one million dollar prize to students from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach schools. The prize was split between Broward students and students from an Alonzo Mourning school in Miami.
In November, FTX imploded after investors learned of accounting irregularities by founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and his partners. Bankman-Fried was arrested last month by Federal authorities. Experts believe FTX will attempt to collect the prize money from the students due to alleged fraud by SBF.
The FTX Hackathon was the brainchild of his SBF’s father Joe Bankman. His aunt Barbara Miller organized the event with the help of Broward School Board Member Debbi Hixon. Miller is a Democrat political consultant with close ties to numerous School Board Members.
In an exclusive interview with REDBROWARD last November, Hixon confirmed each student received a $15,000 scholarship for winning the Hackathon. The $500,000 grand prize was deposited with an entity at Florida International University (FIU).
Last night at a Broward Schools town hall in Pompano Beach, activist Chris Nelson asked Superintendent Cartwright and Hixon about the FTX matter.
Cartwright read the following statement:
“The FTX charity hackathon was open to students from across south Florida. The competition was not organized by Broward County Public Schools and the District was not a recipient of any funds from FTX.”
But questions still remain.
Did any organization with ties to the District act as a “bridge” between the District and FTX. Did any of these organizations or foundations receive money from FTX?
Why did FIU get the $500,000 prize won by Broward students?
REDBROWARD 
Still yawning for now Tom. Let us know when you finally get some real hard facts that actually show some “scandal” to which the Broward School system and the District were active participants in a known “scandal.” In the interim, me, I’m thrilled to see that students received $15K scholarships they undoubtedly could really use. I sorely doubt anyone’s going to be seeking to claw those back. If the providers of those funds (i.e., FTX and its management) did something legally inappropriate in spending those funds well then they are the ones on the hook…and that can be added to the long list of actions brought, or to be brought, against FTX and its management. But, even your facts, as stated, are confusing. You start off by saying that the prize money was $1 million to be split between Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Schools. Then, though, you say it was to, in fact, be split between Broward students and students at an Alonzo Mourning School in Miami-Dade. But, then, you say $15K scholarships went to all students who won the Hackathon, with the $500K “grand prize” allegedly deposited with an entity at FIU. In short, none of that jives. So, what exactly was received and what exactly was distributed and to who?
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Students from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami Dade competed for the $1 million dollar grand prize. At the event, they split the money between two teams-one from Broward, one from an Alonzo Mourning school. The $500K won by Broward team was deposited with someone at FIU. In addition to the grand prize, members of winning team received $15K each.
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Thanks for the follow up and clarification Tom. I’m still looking forward to seeing that “hard evidence” of direct involvement by those in the Broward School System and the District in a known “scandal” that leave them subject to prosecution, including that dastardly “Democrat political consultant with [alleged] close ties to ‘numerous’ School Board members” (I didn’t even realize “numerous” school board members existed in the District 🙂 ).
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