The founder of FTX has brought his entrepreneurial spirit behind bars. He has advised several high-profile inmates, like former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez and rapper Sean Combs, according to reporting by the New York Times.
Bankman-Fried is currently serving 25 years in prison for misappropriating funds at the crypto exchange he founded, FTX, which was once valued at over $30 billion. The company’s collapse stands as the largest fraud in the crypto industry, and led to an extended period of stagnation for the sector. While in prison, Bankman-Fried has crossed paths with several celebrity inmates and is giving them his two cents on what they should do in court.
He encouraged Hernandez to testify in his own defense during his trial in New York City in 2024. The strategy did not go according to plan as the former Honduran president was later sentenced to 45 years in prison for importing more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. Hernandez was released from prison earlier in December following a pardon from President Donald Trump.
Another one of Bankman-Fried’s legal advisees was Sean Combs, more commonly referred to as Diddy. The two were cellmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, and the crypto fraudster prepared the rapper for the prosecution’s strategy. The jury later found Combs not guilty of the most severe charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, but he was convicted of transportation for prostitution and was sentenced to four years in prison.
On Twitter, several people questioned the logic of a convicted felon giving guidance to other inmates. One user quipped, “SBF might seem intelligent but clearly he lacks the fundamental qualities of a good lawyer, which is sober judgment, you know, being detail-oriented. This guy is an idiot.” And another user was even harsher in his criticism of Bankman-Fried’s latest hobby: “Why would anyone take legal advice from this obvious f___ dunce?”
During FTX’s rise, Bankman-Fried was very public about his alleged altruism and emphasized that he was doing the most possible good with his resources. His father, the Stanford law professor, Joseph Bankman, seems to think that spirit of benevolence is behind his helping other inmates: “Sam gave most of his income to charity every year he had income. Now all he has is his time to give,” he told The New York Times.
