Years before Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire collapsed, a group of employees quit in a power struggle — after becoming concerned about what they say was his cavalier approach to risk, compliance and accounting.

The employees worked at his trading firm, Alameda Research, and were some of his earliest colleagues, including Alameda’s co-founder, Tara Mac Aulay. They left in 2018, well before the crypto exchange FTX grew out of Alameda. Both FTX and Alameda are now bankrupt.