Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried has reportedly been sent to solitary confinement after taking part in an interview with right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson, which was not approved by prison authorities.
“This particular interview was not approved,” a representative for the US Bureau of Prisons told The New York Times on March 7.
Bankman-Fried did not receive permission to take interview
According to a person briefed on the situation, after Bankman-Fried’s interview with Carlson was published, he was sent to solitary confinement at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held since August 2023.
The Bureau of Prisons is said to have strict rules on who can communicate with inmates and how they can do so.
The interview, published on Carlson’s YouTube channel on March 6, has already garnered 730,425 views at the time of publication.
During the interview with Carlson, Bankman-Fried talked about prison life since his sentencing and his thoughts on crypto regulation in the US.
Bankman-Fried told Carlson he didn’t think he was “a criminal.”
Bankman-Fried continues appeal battle
While Carlson didn’t directly ask Bankman-Fried if he expected a pardon from US President Donald Trump, he appeared receptive to some Republican ideas during the interview.
However, since the interview aired, speculation has grown within the community about a possible Trump pardon.
According to a March 7 X post from crypto predictions platform Polymarket, “the odds of an SBF pardon have nearly doubled,” since the interview was published.
Related: SBF always played both sides of the aisle despite new Republican plea
On Jan. 21, just a day after taking office, Trump gave a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who had been in prison for 12 years for founding the defunct darknet marketplace the Silk Road.
Meanwhile, in September 2024, lawyers representing Bankman-Fried filed an appeal for his seven felony counts and 25-year prison sentence.
In the 102-page brief, the lawyers claimed that the former FTX CEO was “never presumed innocent,” subject to scrutiny that allegedly affected prosecutors, the presiding judge, and treatment by the media.
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