Just before his cryptocurrency empire crumbled in November 2021, Sam Bankman-Fried considered going on Tucker Carlson’s show to “come out as a republican” to rehabilitate his image. On Thursday, almost a year since the former FTX founder was sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding users of his cryptocurrency exchange, he finally fulfilled his plan.
From “a little side room” of Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, Bankman-Fried spent his 33rd birthday dishing to Carlson in a wide-ranging interview, which included new details about life in prison with his cell block mate, Sean “Diddy” Combs. As NBC previously reported, Bankman-Fried and Combs, who is currently facing sex trafficking charges, are being housed together in the same unit.
“I’ve only seen one piece of him, which is Diddy in prison, and he’s been kind to people in the unit, he’s been kind to me,” Bankman-Fried told the former Fox News host on “The Tucker Carlson Show.” “It’s also — it’s a position no one wants to be in.”
Bankman-Fried, 33, was convicted in November 2023 of seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering for swindling customers of FTX and lenders of Alameda Research, its associated hedge fund. After the verdict, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried “perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.”
Life behind bars
Bankman-Fried told Carlson that he has “made some friends” at the Brooklyn prison, where sources told NBC he is in a unit for detainees that need extra protection.
“It’s sort of dystopian,” Bankman-Fried said. “You know, the fortunate thing, the place I’m in, I’m not in … I’m not in physical danger.”
He described the unit as having defendants of high profile cases and “a lot of ex-gangsters — or alleged ex-gangsters.” When asked how cellblock mates feel about being housed with him and Combs, Bankman-Fried theorized that some of them think “this is a big opportunity to meet people they wouldn’t otherwise get to meet.”
“They’re good at chess. That’s one thing I learned,” Bankman-Fried added. “Former armed robbers who don’t speak English and probably didn’t graduate middle school, a surprising number of them are fairly good at chess. I’m not saying they’re grand masters, but I lose games to them all the time. I was not expecting that.”
In addition to playing chess and working on his appeal, Bankman-Fried told Carlson he has started to read novels again. Carlson noted that Bankman-Fried seemed “less jumpy” and “healthier” after spending the last two years in prison. The former Fox host then admitted it seemed like Bankman-Fried was “flying high on Adderall” in his previous TV appearances.
Bankman-Fried denied ever being on the drug. “But I was pretty out of it. My mind was racing because there were, you know, a billion things to keep track of,” he added.
His changing political stance
Bankman-Fried described how his politics have evolved the last five years from a major Biden donor to having a better relationship with Republicans than Democrats by the time he went to trial.
“One fact that might be relevant. In 2020 I was center-left and I gave to Biden’s campaign,” he said. “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,” he added, noting that he believed in ideas from both sides of the aisle.
In his trial, prosecutors showed a document where he mulled over ways to rehabilitate his public image after FTX collapsed, including going on Carlson’s show to “come out against the woke agenda.” Carlson asked him if he ever called in political favors during his trial, which Bankman-Fried denied because he didn’t want to do “something inappropriate.”
His optimistic view on the future of crypto
Bankman-Fried said “hopefully” things are moving in the right direction for cryptocurrency under Trump, noting that there are already a lot of “good things” happening in the administration.
“So I think the big question is, you know, when rubber meets the road, like, will the administration do what needs to be done and figure out how to do it?” he said. “Right now, crypto is not at the point where it could become an everyday tool.”
Carlson also asked Bankman-Fried if he believes “there is a lot of shady behavior in the crypto business.” Bankman-Fried said that a decade ago, he may have agreed, but the business is now “a lot smaller” and more regulated.
Bankman-Fried’s financial status
Carlson asked the former billionaire if he has “any money” left after the collapse of FTX and his conviction — and Bankman-Fried admitted “basically no.” In addition to his prison sentence, Bankman-Fried was ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture.
“The company that I used to own … had nothing intervened, today it would have about $15 billion of liabilities and about $93 billion of assets. So the answer should be, in theory, yes there was enough money to pay everyone back in kind,” he explained. “But, that’s not how things worked out. Instead, it all got roiled up in a bankruptcy.”
“It’s been a colossal disaster,” he added. “Not stopping that from happening is by far the biggest regret of my life.”
His birthday plans in prison
Bankman-Fried, who spoke with Carlson on Wednesday, admitted he has no plans. He explained that he was never “big on birthdays on the outside” and was not looking forward to “celebrating another year in prison” for his 33rd birthday on Thursday.
“So you’re not going to tell Diddy it’s your birthday tomorrow? I don’t believe you,” Carlson asked.
Bankman-Fried responded that while he was not planning to tell Combs about his birthday, “someone else might tell him.”
