Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of FTX, continues to assert his innocence despite receiving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud.
In the interim, he has engaged in commodities trading, specifically sacks of rice, while he prepares his appeal.Â
Bankman-Fried engaged in an interview with Puck News’ William Cohan on May 9, 2023. This interview marked his initial face-to-face interaction with the media since his incarceration in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn in August 2023. Barbara Fried, Bankman-Fried’s mother, had assisted in organizing the interview.
The former CEO of FX consumes vegan meals that his fellow captives describe as “literally [smell] like s***.” He subsists on beans and rice, which has “become one of the realm’s currencies within MDC.”
Reportedly, the former high-frequency trader and co-founder of Alameda Research and a trading house Jane Street Capital graduate quipped that the arbitrage opportunities in prison are infinitely superior to those in his former life.Â
Puck reported that Bankman-Fried had lost 25 pounds (11 kilograms), was “considerably thinner,” was “less pudgy, less manic, less fidgety,” and had no circles under his eyes.
Although he “rarely did” before, he maintained eye contact with Cohan “pretty much the entire time” during the interview. However, the incarcerated founder acknowledged that he had “become good at faking” and that he was doing well.Â
Bankman-Fried is confined in a spacious open dormitory-style room with 35 other male inmates, of whom half are allegedly cooperating with the government as murderers. This area of the MDC is predominantly reserved for female detainees.
Reportedly, he is exhausted with only four televisions and a non-internet-connected tablet on which he plays video games for amusement.
Although not preoccupied with his safety, he experiences difficulty sleeping due to the intrusion of fellow inmates who seek his rice sacks to barter them.
SBF Considers Himself “the fall guy”
Bankman-Fried notified the court last month that he is appealing his conviction for fraud and money laundering, as his attorneys had advised him to do upon his November conviction.Â
According to Cohan, he meets with his new attorney “nearly every weekday for an hour or so,” his prescribed medication enables him to “think clearly.”
The former exchange chief stated to Cohan that he was “set up to be the fall guy” for the demise of FTX, adding that negligence, which rendered the exchange “vulnerable to a bank run and the devious actions of its competitors” was his only error and that civil, not criminal, penalties would be an appropriate punishment.
Bankman-Fried, according to Cohan, “still does not believe he committed any crimes” and portrayed himself as an innocent participant who could not negotiate with prosecutors adequately.
Additionally, he “did not exactly apologize” for his guilt in misappropriating customer funds, which amounted to approximately $8 billion.
Bankman-Fried asserts that the legion of attorneys to whom he delegated FTX held him accountable for the firm’s demise. The former CEO held the conviction that had he remained in his position, FTX would have flourished into a prosperous enterprise with a valuation of $80 billion rather than insolvency.
He further stated that after his attorneys persuaded him that running the trading firm and FTX concurrently constituted a conflict of interest, he ought to have made a more significant effort to find a successor for Alameda besides his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison or continued to operate both companies despite their advice.
While he awaits the July filing of his appeal, Bankman-Fried has requested to remain at the MDC. His placement in a facility close to his parents, on the opposite side of the country in California, is probable, even though he is subject to relocation at any moment.
Reportedly, if this occurs, it will likely be on a prison bus that travels across the United States for up to four months when it lets off and picks up inmates.
