In his recent prison interview with Tucker Carlson, Sam Bankman Fried maintained his innocence and expressed confusion as to why he was convicted of fraud. He argued that FTX was a legitimate service, and although there was a crisis, the company was still solvent. Bankman spoke candidly about his prison experience and shared his thoughts on crypto regulation under a Trump presidency. Tucker Carlson, a right-wing commentator, interviewed him on March 5. Although he did not ask Bankman whether he wished for a pardon from Trump, the conversation ultimately led to whether Bankman supported Democrats or Republicans. The interview occurred in a little side room in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre. Bankman turned 33 on the day of the interview. He discussed details about his sharing a cell block with rapper Sean Combs. In November 2022, the FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy after suffering from liquidity issues due to its complete collapse. This led to U.S. criminal charges against Bankman and four executives, but only Bankman, Caroline Ellison, and Ryan Salame received prison time. “One fact that might be relevant”, said Bankman in the interview. “In 2020, I was center-left, and I gave to Biden’s campaign. I was optimistic he’d be a sort of solid center-left president. I spent the next few years in D.C. a lot. I made dozens of trips there and was really, really shocked by what I saw – not in a good direction – from the administration”. “By late 2022, I was giving to Republicans privately as much as Democrats. And that started becoming known right around FTX’s collapse, so that probably played a role”. Bankman described prison life as “dystopian” and lamented that every day seems to be the same with one day melding with the next. He also said that he feels safe in prison and that the only issue concerning him is getting enough time to prepare his legal cases. He spends most of his time reading books, playing chess with other inmates, and working on his legal case. He describes prison life as soul-crushing because there are few meaningful activities. Bankman gave over $30 million to support predominantly Democratic causes, making him the second-largest contributor to the 2022 midterm election. He is currently waiting for an appeal in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre. He mainly eats rice and beans and laments that no former FTX employees have visited him. Lewis Kaplan, U.S. District Judge, presided over Bankman’s case, and also presided over Jean Carroll’s case against Trump, who successfully sued the president for defamation. “I know President Trump had a lot of frustrations with Judge Kaplan. I certainly did as well”, said Bankman in a separate prison interview with the Sun. In August 2023, the indictment read that Bankman “misappropriated and embezzled FTX customer deposits, and used billions of dollars in stolen funds for a variety of purposes, including to help fund over a hundred million dollars in campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans to seek to influence cryptocurrency regulation”. However, Bankman showed a lack of remorse in his interview with Tucker Carlson, failing to acknowledge the pain he caused his customers by using their deposits to cover his trading losses in his investment firm. He preferred to focus on his ties with the republican party to gain favor with Trump. Bankman may alternatively argue that banks often use deposits to invest in assets. He has indicated that he plans to appeal the case and may make such arguments at a later date. He further criticised SEC chairman Gary Gensler, claiming he was politically biased and sought power simply by blocking crypto industries. The SEC has recently dropped cases against Bankman’s colleagues. Gensler has also dropped out of the SEC, ending his four-year war against crypto. President Trump has taken a positive approach to regulating the crypto industry. Bankman suggested that he may not be able to survive his entire sentence. He pointed out that studies show that one ages at 3 times the rate when living in prison. “The hardest thing is just not having something meaningful to be doing in here. There are studies, no idea how good they are, but they show you age at roughly three times the normal rate in prison. So you know, you have three times 25 to my 32 years when I was convicted. That gets you an answer, maybe”.
