2023-08-23 17:50:10
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of crypto exchange FTX, at a hearing in August. Image: Reuters
The suspected scammer and crypto entrepreneur has been in jail since last week. The industry is trying to get back on its feet.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the luminary of the crypto scene, has been in a Brooklyn jail for the past week, which prominent inmates describe as testing the toughest of minds. One of the ex-cons, Martin Shkreli, had become the nation’s bogeyman for driving up the price of a vitally important drug. The “Pharma Bro” was in prison until last year. He now recommended Bankman-Fried to shave his mop of hair, get a deeper voice and get acquainted with the gangs that are up to mischief in America’s big cities. And if all else fails, he should contact “Flacco” from the Bronx, who is housed on the 5th floor and only responds to contact with the sound of birds.
Difficult weeks are ahead for the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which collapsed spectacularly last fall and was valued at $32 billion in its heyday in early 2022. Over the course of the same year, however, it became apparent that the value had been artificially generated through disguised financial transactions with affiliated companies and through the misuse of client funds. The 31-year-old Bankman-Fried is considered the mastermind and has to answer in court from October 2nd.
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