Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, sentenced to 25 years in 2024 for his role in misusing customer funds, gave another interview from prison before his 33rd birthday.
Speaking to right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson on March 5, Bankman-Fried talked about prison life since his sentencing and his thoughts on crypto regulation in the United States. Though Carlson did not directly ask the former FTX CEO whether he expected to receive a pardon from US President Donald Trump, SBF seemed to warm to some Republican ideas during the interview.
Sam Bankman-Fried interview, released on March 6. Source: Tucker Carlson
According to SBF, he did not call on any US lawmakers to assist him in 2022 amid pending criminal charges, claiming that he “didn’t want to do something inappropriate.” Though Bankman-Fried was a well-known Democratic donor, including to former US President Joe Biden’s campaign, he said he had likely contributed as much to Republicans.
“I had as a good relationship, probably better, with Republicans in DC as with Democrats by that point in time, although that wasn’t what the public thought,” said Bankman-Fried, referring to the aftermath of the FTX collapse.
FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. The exchange’s collapse due to liquidity issues led to US criminal charges against Bankman-Fried and four executives. Three — SBF, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame — received prison time.
“I don’t think I was a criminal,” Bankman-Fried told Carlson, adding he thought Salame had been charged with “totally bogus crimes,” potentially because he was a Republican. One of the only other interviews SBF has given since 2024 was to the conservative news outlet New York Sun, suggesting efforts to cozy up to Trump and lawmakers in the majority.
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Following his sentencing hearing in March 2024, Bankman-Fried’s legal team filed to appeal the conviction. Reports have also suggested that the former FTX CEO’s parents were exploring a presidential pardon for their son from Trump following his November election win.
Life in prison for the former billionaire
Bankman-Fried is currently housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while awaiting appeal — the same facility holding rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who faces charges related to sexual assault and sex trafficking. Describing his life in prison recently, SBF said he mostly ate rice and beans and that no former FTX employee had visited him.
“Anyone who was close to me ended up with a gun to their head, being told that they had two options, and one of them involved decades in prison,” said SBF.
Criminal cases involving FTX have largely concluded following former engineering director Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang being sentenced to time served. Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024, while Salame received seven and a half years in May. Salame’s wife, Michelle Bond, is expected to go to trial in 2025 for campaign finance charges.
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