Deniz 
While he plots his appeal, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has taken to commodities trading, specifically bags of rice, and continues to insist on his innocence after receiving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud.
Bankman-Fried spoke to Puck News’ William Cohan in an interview published on May 9, which Bankman-Fried’s mother Barbara Fried helped organize. This was his first in-person meeting with the media since he was locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in August 2023. Despite the fact that his vegan meals “literally [smell] like sh*t,” according to his fellow inmates, the ex-FTX CEO continues to eat beans and rice, which has “become one of the currencies of the realm inside MDC.”
According to reports, the ex-high-frequency trader and current co-founder of trading business Alameda Research made a joke about how much greater the arbitrage prospects are behind bars than in his previous life. Bankman-Fried shed 25 pounds (11 kilograms) and appeared “less pudgy, less manic, less fidgety” after the weight loss, according to Puck. He also appeared to have eliminated the bags under his eyes.
He maintained eye contact with Cohan “pretty much the whole time” during the conversation, which was unusual for him, but the founder, who is now in prison, said that he had “become good at faking” that he was doing OK. Sequestered in a big open dormitory-style area in a section of the MDC primarily reserved for female convicts, Bankman-Fried and 35 other male inmates are believed to be half of a murderous group that is collaborating with the authorities.
With only four televisions and a tablet that does not have internet access, he supposedly plays games and is utterly bored. Even though he doesn’t fear for his safety, he has trouble sleeping since other convicts keep waking him up to inquire about his rice sacks, which they plan to use as bargaining chips.
Bankman-Fried Maintains Innocence, Files Appeal Against Fraud Conviction
After his attorneys promised that Bankman-Fried would appeal his November conviction for fraud and money laundering, he finally did so last month. His new lawyer and he talk “nearly every weekday for an hour or so,” according to Cohan, and he is “thinking clearly” thanks to his approved prescription medication.
According to the former exchange chief, who told Cohan he was “set up to be the fall guy” for FTX’s failure, the only mistake he made was being negligent, which made FTX “vulnerable to a bank run and the devious actions of its competitors.” He also said that an appropriate punishment would be civil fines rather than criminal penalties.
As Cohan pointed out, Bankman-Fried “still doesn’t believe he committed any crimes” and presented himself as a victim who was unable to have a meaningful conversation with prosecutors about his innocence. Along with his conviction for helping to steal around $8 billion in client assets, he was “not exactly apologetic” about it.
According to Bankman-Fried, the legions of attorneys he delegated FTX to held him personally responsible for the firm’s demise. The former CEO had high hopes that FTX would have avoided bankruptcy and grown into an $80 billion powerhouse had he remained in his position.
He went on to say that after his lawyers told him that running the trading firm and FTX simultaneously constituted a conflict of interest, he should have either sought out a replacement for ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison or just disregarded their advice and kept running both companies. The deadline for Bankman-Fried’s appeal is July, and he has requested to remain at the MDC until then. A facility close to his parents in California, on the opposite side of the nation, will probably be his new home, but he is subject to transfer at any moment.
Reportedly, if that occurs, it will take place aboard a prison bus that picks up and drops off inmates as it travels across the United States, a process that can take up to four months.