Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried has been placed in solitary confinement after giving an unauthorized interview to right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Bankman-Fried did not have permission for the interview and was subsequently sent to solitary at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held since August 2023.
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has strict rules regarding inmate communication, and Bankman-Fried’s interview with Tucker Carlson, which was published on March 6 on Carlson’s YouTube channel, quickly gained attention with over 730,425 views at the time of publication.
In the interview, Bankman-Fried shared his prison experience and thoughts on U.S. crypto rules, stating that he did not see himself as a criminal. While the interview did not directly address a potential pardon for Bankman-Fried, his interest in some Republican ideas sparked rumors in the community about a possible pardon by former President Trump.
Following the interview, the chances of a Sam Bankman-Fried pardon nearly doubled according to crypto prediction platform Polymarket. This comes after Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road, on January 21.
Bankman-Fried’s legal team has also filed an appeal for his seven felony counts and 25-year sentence, arguing that he was never presumed innocent and faced bias from prosecutors, the judge, and the media.
Bankman-Fried’s family, including his parents Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, are consulting with a lawyer connected to Trump’s past campaigns in an effort to secure a pardon. While the clemency effort has not gained much momentum, they hope that Trump’s transactional approach to clemency will work in their favor.
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