FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) mentioned in his ultimate interview from jail that handing over management of the corporate to present CEO John J. Ray III in November 2022 was his “greatest mistake.” Bankman-Fried acknowledged that the choice “destroyed the alternate’s probability to reserve it.”
Bankman-Fried’s statements garnered consideration in the course of the investigation following FTX’s collapse, throughout which the regulation agency Sullivan & Cromwell acquired greater than $171 million in charges. SBF maintains its innocence: “I did not defraud anybody,” it says. Nonetheless, the jury’s verdict confirmed that FTX’s collapse was one of many largest monetary crimes in historical past.
Serving a 25-year jail sentence as of 2025, Bankman-Fried did not abandon her habits even whereas criticizing jail guidelines in an interview: “We’re solely allowed to put on overalls from 6 a.m. to three p.m. I do not know who made such a pointless rule,” she mentioned, humorously describing jail situations.
SBF’s dad and mom, Stanford College regulation professor Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, are on their son’s protection workforce and are getting ready to enchantment the conviction. “I am outraged to consider Sam sitting in jail; every part he might have contributed to the world has been destroyed,” Fried mentioned.
The household alleges that Sullivan & Cromwell was primarily accountable for FTX’s chapter. The regulation agency allegedly took management of the corporate from SBF, appointed John J. Ray III as CEO, and profited considerably from the chapter. Bankman-Fried’s workforce argues that this accelerated FTX’s collapse.
John J. Ray III, nevertheless, says SBF is “deceiving itself.” In line with Ray, in the course of the Bankman-Fried period, FTX was a veritable “home of playing cards,” and he and Sullivan & Cromwell managed to save lots of 1000’s of consumers cash.
FTX’s 2022 collapse started with a monetary report printed by Coindesk. In line with the leak, SBF’s proprietary buying and selling agency, Alameda Analysis, relied closely on FTX’s personal token, FTT. This eroded investor confidence, resulting in large withdrawals and eventual chapter.
*This isn’t funding recommendation.
