'Crypto King' behind $10 billion scam has made a plea to the Trump administration as he breaks silence with first X posts from prison.
Sam Bankman-Fried - widely known as SBF - is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in California. A New York jury convicted him in November 2023 of seven criminal charges, including fraud and conspiracy, after his cryptocurrency trading platform FTX collapsed.
The collapse shocked the crypto world, wiping out $10 billion in customer funds. When media personality Tucker Carlson asked him during a recent prison interview whether he had any money remaining, his answer was bluntly: "Well, basically no."
Right after receiving his sentence, the imprisoned cryptofraudster announced he would challenge the conviction. He's given a few interviews from prison since spring, but has generally kept a low profile.
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However, since September, something interesting has been happening on Bankman-Fried's social media accounts. Even though prisoners don't have internet access, a friend has reportedly been posting messages on his behalf.
One of which was back in February, when he responded to Elon Musk's controversial demand that thousands of government workers justify their positions within 48 hours.
In response to Musk's actions through DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), SBF wrote: “I have a lot of sympathy for gov’t employees: I, too, have not checked my email for the past few (hundred) days. And I can confirm that being unemployed is a lot less relaxing than it looks.”
Then, after posting a simple "gm" (short for 'good morning'), his account became increasingly active.
The messages mostly attack those managing FTX's bankruptcy proceedings and argue that everyone has the wrong idea about what actually happened to FTX's finances.
According to the posts, the money wasn't stolen or lost, it was simply locked up in investments that couldn't be quickly converted to cash.
Now, SBF is battling his conviction on two fronts, through legal channels while trying to win over public opinion, Wired reported.
The strategy appears aimed at securing a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, who has already pardoned several cryptocurrency figures since returning to the White House in January.
Daniel Richman, a law professor at Columbia University, said that Bankman-Fried's argument that FTX actually had enough money and that bankruptcy lawyers wrongly seized control from him won't help his court appeal. But if the White House believes this version of events, the legal details might not matter.
“It depends on the extent to which one thinks Trump’s pardoning process has any connection to the merits of cases,” claimed Richman.
During his conversation with Carlson about cryptocurrency, Bankman-Fried praised the Trump administration, suggesting it would benefit the crypto sector by removing regulatory obstacles created during the Biden years.
“I don’t think I’m a criminal,” he also told Carlson at prison, where he noted that fellow inmate Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who has been charged with sex crimes, has been 'kind' to him.