I was thinking about to what extent NDAs (either non-disclosure or non-disparagement agreements) played a role in the 2018 blowup at Alameda Research (since if there were a lot, that could be a throughline between messiness at Alameda and messiness at Open AI recently).
Here’s what I’ve collected from public records:
Not mentioned as far as I can tell in Going Infinite
Ben West: “I don’t want to speak for this person, but my own experience was pretty different. For example: Sam was fine with me telling prospective AR employees why I thought they shouldn’t join (and in fact I did do this),[4] and my severance agreement didn’t have any sort of non-disparagement clause. This comment says that none of the people who left had a non-disparagement clause, which seems like an obvious thing a person would do if they wanted to use force to prevent disparagement.[5]” From here
Kerry Vaughn: “Information about pre-2018 Alameda is difficult to obtain because the majority of those directly involved signed NDAs before their departure in exchange for severance payments. I am aware of only one employee who did not. The other people who can spreak freely on the topic are early investors in Alameda and members of the EA community who heard about Alameda from those directly involved before they signed their NDAs”. From here.
ftxthrowaway: “Lastly, my severance agreement didn’t have a non-disparagement clause, and I’m pretty sure no one’s did. I assume that you are not hearing from staff because they are worried about the looming shitstorm over FTX now, not some agreement from four years ago.” From here (it’s a response to the previous)
nbouscal: “I’m the person that Kerry was quoting here, and am at least one of the reasons he believed the others had signed agreements with non-disparagement clauses. I didn’t sign a severance agreement for a few reasons: I wanted to retain the ability to sue, I believed there was a non-disparagement clause, and I didn’t want to sign away rights to the ownership stake that I had been verbally told I would receive. Given that I didn’t actually sign it, I could believe that the non-disparagement clauses were removed and I didn’t know about it, and people have just been quiet for other reasons (of which there are certainly plenty).” From here (it’s a response to the previous)
Later says “I do think I was probably just remembering incorrectly about this to be honest, I looked back through things from then and it looks like there was a lot of back-and-forth about the inclusion of an NDA (among other clauses), so it seems very plausible that it was just removed entirely during that negotiation (aside from the one in the IP agreement).” Link here.
arthrowaway: “Also no non-disparagement clause in my agreement. FWIW I was one of the people who negotiated the severance stuff after the 2018 blowup, and I feel fairly confident that that holds for everyone. (But my memory is crappy, so that’s mostly because I trust the FB post about what was negotiated more than you do.)” From here (it’s in the same thread as the above)
Overall this tells a story where NDAs weren’t a big part of the Alameda story (since I think Ben West and nbouscal at least left during the 2018 blowup, but folks should correct me if I’m wrong). This is a bit interesting to me.
I was thinking about to what extent NDAs (either non-disclosure or non-disparagement agreements) played a role in the 2018 blowup at Alameda Research (since if there were a lot, that could be a throughline between messiness at Alameda and messiness at Open AI recently).
Here’s what I’ve collected from public records:
Not mentioned as far as I can tell in Going Infinite
Ben West: “I don’t want to speak for this person, but my own experience was pretty different. For example: Sam was fine with me telling prospective AR employees why I thought they shouldn’t join (and in fact I did do this),[4] and my severance agreement didn’t have any sort of non-disparagement clause. This comment says that none of the people who left had a non-disparagement clause, which seems like an obvious thing a person would do if they wanted to use force to prevent disparagement.[5]” From here
Kerry Vaughn: “Information about pre-2018 Alameda is difficult to obtain because the majority of those directly involved signed NDAs before their departure in exchange for severance payments. I am aware of only one employee who did not. The other people who can spreak freely on the topic are early investors in Alameda and members of the EA community who heard about Alameda from those directly involved before they signed their NDAs”. From here.
ftxthrowaway: “Lastly, my severance agreement didn’t have a non-disparagement clause, and I’m pretty sure no one’s did. I assume that you are not hearing from staff because they are worried about the looming shitstorm over FTX now, not some agreement from four years ago.” From here (it’s a response to the previous)
nbouscal: “I’m the person that Kerry was quoting here, and am at least one of the reasons he believed the others had signed agreements with non-disparagement clauses. I didn’t sign a severance agreement for a few reasons: I wanted to retain the ability to sue, I believed there was a non-disparagement clause, and I didn’t want to sign away rights to the ownership stake that I had been verbally told I would receive. Given that I didn’t actually sign it, I could believe that the non-disparagement clauses were removed and I didn’t know about it, and people have just been quiet for other reasons (of which there are certainly plenty).” From here (it’s a response to the previous)
Later says “I do think I was probably just remembering incorrectly about this to be honest, I looked back through things from then and it looks like there was a lot of back-and-forth about the inclusion of an NDA (among other clauses), so it seems very plausible that it was just removed entirely during that negotiation (aside from the one in the IP agreement).” Link here.
arthrowaway: “Also no non-disparagement clause in my agreement. FWIW I was one of the people who negotiated the severance stuff after the 2018 blowup, and I feel fairly confident that that holds for everyone. (But my memory is crappy, so that’s mostly because I trust the FB post about what was negotiated more than you do.)” From here (it’s in the same thread as the above)
Overall this tells a story where NDAs weren’t a big part of the Alameda story (since I think Ben West and nbouscal at least left during the 2018 blowup, but folks should correct me if I’m wrong). This is a bit interesting to me.
Interested in if others have different takeaways.