Sam Bankman-Fried on the prospect of jail: This is not the time or place to think about it
The disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX, which went bust after looting client funds, says he’s not particularly focused on criminal risks he may be facing at the moment. His remarks came during a widely publicized interview at a New York Times DealBook conference.
“There will be a time and a place to reflect on myself and my own future. But I don’t think it is. Look, I’ve had a bad month,” Sam Bankman-Fried responded to a question from host Andrew Ross Sorkin about whether he was concerned about criminal liability for his actions.
The comments sparked laughter from audiences and raised eyebrows on social media, where many were surprised Bankman-Fried even agreed to the live interview. Those at the center of potentially criminal scandals usually heed lawyers’ advice to remain calm lest they provide compromising information to prosecutors.
“They’re not at all,” Bankman-Fried replied when asked if attorneys were telling him to speak out. “I have a duty to explain what happened … I don’t see what is achieved by just sitting cooped up in a room and pretending the outside world doesn’t exist.”
Legal observers have suggested that Bankman-Fried’s behavior at FTX could amount to wire fraud, a federal law that carries a 20-year prison sentence. For the time being, he has not been charged with any criminal charges and is presumed innocent.
Sam Bankman-Fried, dressed in a black t-shirt and appearing practically from the Bahamas, apologized for FTX’s collapse, which has left it owing money to more than a million customers and creditors. But he denied attempting to commit fraud.
“[I] not even knowingly mixed. I was frankly surprised at how big Alameda’s position was, which indicates another failure on my part. I wasn’t trying to mix funds,” he said, referring to his hedge fund, which drew funds from the FTX exchange when it ran into financial difficulties earlier in the year.
On several occasions during the interview, Bankman-Fried apologized to investors for the FTX debacle but didn’t seem to acknowledge that he had done anything morally wrong.
“Ultimately, I had a duty to investors, to the world. I didn’t do that well. I made a lot of mistakes. There are things I would give anything to do again. I wasn’t trying to cheat on anyone … There are things I wish I had done differently,” he said.
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