What can Sam Bankman-Fried expect next? [70]

The former FTX CEO does not have a good outlook down the road

Good afternoon, friends.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, clearly appears to be trying to stave off the consequences of a full-court press of unprecedented fraud at FTX and Alameda Research. At least this is from what we’ve learned prior to his arrest.

It’s very clear that he has bought and paid for influencers and journalists of a pedigree hereto unseen in any of these coverups.

The Block, which is an independent cryptocurrency publication had their operations exposed as having their entire operations entirely funded by Bankman-Fried earlier this month. As mentioned in the previous issue of AskDrBitcoin, its CEO was forced to resign after it was revealed that he accepted loans for the publication on the order of tens of millions and even used some of it for a flat in the Bahamas.

Other supporters from the influencer class appear to be highly suspect for Bankman-Fried. Mike Alfred avoids criticizing Bankman-Fried in all of his tweets recently while at the same time accusing Chanpeng “CZ” Zhao, the CEO of Binance, of literal kidnapping and murder – an old conspiracy theory. Kevin O’Leary, known for starring on Shark Tank and supporting FTX, told Congress during hearings on the subject that the collapse of the exchange was not fraud, but the work of Binance.

Meanwhile, media legal analysts are estimating that Bankman-Fried could be facing upwards of 120 years to life in prison. The Department of Justice has not spoken specifically about the number of years. The local prison bookie here is putting the over-under on the number of years at 75 years. I feel like it’s a decent put to take the under and take the chance that he takes a plea so that he sees 20 to 25 years that way.

So. You may ask. What can Bankman-Fried expect in prison?

He can expect sub-par burgers served every Wednesday without fail. He can also expect to be outfitted with a cheap plastic Timex watch and of course the dreaded plastic spork. Probably a lot of bologna sandwiches. Oh wait, I’m sorry, he’s vegan, so there’s going to be a lot of unmeltable cheese sandwiches.

No more fancy island wear for him. Now it’s freshly pressed khaki jumpsuits! And for that lustrous mop, only the best shampoo that the Bureau of Prisons can shove inside of a condiment packet.

Most devastatingly the BOP commissary will not be accepting FTT tokens. Only USD can be redeemed here for his squeeze cheese and his soy-based taco beans. And, of course, as a treat imitation crab meat around the holiday season.

In all seriousness, there are real concerns about the survivability of the situation for Bankman-Fried. Reports have said that there may be a significant number of bitcoins owned by the sovereign state of El Salvador that were stored in FTX, which may only see 10 to 40 cents on the dollar in 2022 dollars during the depth of a bear market for their recovery out of the bankruptcy. The potential losses for the nation when crypto rebounds could be in the hundreds of billions or even more.

The notorious gang MS-13 is incredibly populous in this sprawling in this prison-industrial complex. And El Salvador’s ability to extradite beyond its borders is limited in the face of the American empire but the ability to navigate within the BOP is pretty free.

Witness the case of Whitey Bulger, an 89-year-old gangster who entered the prison system in 2018, due to his status as a known federal informant survived about 12 hours in BOP custody. His death closely followed the Epstein incident.

Prisons are dangerous and inhumane. They are traumatic to the people who are incarcerated in them and they should not exist, certainly not in the form they currently do. We can do better.

The last news that we have heard about Bankman-Fried is that after his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in the Bahamas is that he would no longer fight extradition to the United States. That means that he will eventually be taken here to face charges. And he will most likely end up in the US prison system.

Trevor Cook helped to coauthor this article.

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