FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried nonetheless maintains his innocence regardless of getting 25 years in jail for fraud and whereas he plans his enchantment, he’s taken to commodities buying and selling — particularly baggage of rice.
In his first in-person chat with the media since being locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart (MDC) in August 2023, Bankman-Fried spoke to Puck Information’ William Cohan in an interview published Could 9 which Bankman-Fried’s mom Barbara Fried was concerned in organizing.
The ex-FTX CEO’s weight-reduction plan sees him get vegan meals that fellow inmates suppose “actually [smell] like shit” so he lives on beans and rice — the latter has “turn into one of many currencies of the realm inside MDC.”
The alum of buying and selling home Jane Road Capital and co-founder of buying and selling agency Alameda Analysis reportedly joked about how significantly better the arbitrage alternatives are in jail in comparison with his former life as a high-frequency dealer.
Bankman-Fried was “significantly thinner,” losing 25 pounds (11 kilograms) and was “much less pudgy, much less manic, much less fidgety,” with no baggage beneath his eyes, Puck reported.
He seemed Cohan within the eyes “just about the entire time,” through the interview — one thing he “not often did” earlier than — however the jailed founder admitted he’d “turn into good at faking” that he was doing effectively.
Bankman-Fried is cordoned off with 35 different male inmates — half reportedly murderers who’re cooperating with the federal government — in a big open dorm-style room in part of the MDC principally for feminine inmates.
He’s reportedly extraordinarily tired of solely 4 TVs and a non-internet-connected pill for leisure which he performs video games on.
He’s not anxious about his security however doesn’t sleep effectively as different inmates wake him to ask about his baggage of rice as they wish to use them for bartering.
SBF thinks he’s “the autumn man”
Final month, Bankman-Fried filed notice that he’s interesting his fraud and cash laundering conviction, one thing his attorneys mentioned he’d do when discovered responsible in November.
He speaks to his new lawyer “almost each weekday for an hour or so” and his authorised prescription remedy has him “pondering clearly,” mentioned Cohan.
The previous alternate head advised Cohan he was “set as much as be the autumn man” for the collapse of FTX — saying his solely slip-up was negligence that put FTX in a spot “weak to a financial institution run and the devious actions of its rivals” including an inexpensive punishment could be civil, not felony penalties.
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Cohan famous Bankman-Fried “nonetheless doesn’t consider he dedicated any crimes” and painted himself as an harmless participant who didn’t get an opportunity to barter sufficiently with prosecutors.
He was additionally “not precisely apologetic” in regards to the roughly $8 billion in buyer funds he was convicted of serving to to misappropriate.
Bankman-Fried claims the military of attorneys that he handed FTX off to, pinned him for the collapse of the agency. The previous CEO believed if he stayed at FTX’s helm, it might not have collapsed into chapter 11 however would as a substitute be a thriving firm value $80 billion.
He added he ought to’ve tried more durable to seek out somebody apart from ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison to steer Alameda after his attorneys satisfied him it was a battle of curiosity to run the buying and selling agency and FTX concurrently — or simply ignored them and continued to run each.
Bankman-Fried has requested to remain on the MDC till he recordsdata his enchantment which ought to are available in July. He can, nevertheless, be moved at any time and can seemingly be positioned in a facility close to his dad and mom — on the opposite aspect of the nation in California.
If that occurs, it’s reportedly prone to be in a jail bus which may take as much as 4 months because it journeys throughout the US, which picks up and drops off inmates because it goes.
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