The former head of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, in his first interview after the verdict was announced, said that he began trading raw materials, or rather, bags of rice. According to him, at the Brooklyn Detention Center, rice is the main currency, the main means of payment.
Sam Bankman-Fried assured that he does not consider himself guilty of the collapse of FTX and plans to appeal. According to the businessman, he was set up by a team of lawyers who could not solve the problems of the platform.
Puck News journalist William Cohen, who interviewed him, said that the former billionaire has lost about eleven kilograms and looks less restless and fussy. In a conversation with a journalist, once one of the richest people in the world complained: there are only four TVs in the cell, there is no access to the Internet, but he has a tablet for games.
Sam Bankman-Freed admitted that he is not afraid for his life in prison, although of the thirty-five prisoners in the same cell with him, half are convicted of murder. However, the businessman has trouble sleeping at night as he is often woken up by his fellow inmates to buy or exchange rice. Bankman-Fried takes medication to help him think better and talks to a new lawyer for an hour every day.
In an interview, the former head of FTX assured that his main mistake was negligence, which made the crypto exchange vulnerable to mass withdrawal of funds and “insidious actions of competitors.”
Previously, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange proposed a new compensation plan, according to which 98% of creditors would be able to receive 118% of their funds. The remaining FTX customers will receive a 100% refund.