Despite being sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, maintained his innocence in a recent interview.

SBF, who has been incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn since August 2023, was interviewed by Puck News reporter William Cohan on May 9. SBF was allegedly housed in a large open dormitory-type cell at MDC during this period along with 35 other male prisoners (half of whom were reportedly murderers). The journalist revealed that after months in captivity, SBF appeared to have lost a lot of weight, losing 11 kilograms.

SBF said in the interview that his eating habits are vegetarian, so he basically eats beans and rice. Among them, rice has become a currency in prison. SBF is not worried about his safety, but he He confessed that he didn't sleep well because other prisoners would wake him up and ask about his bags of rice (money bags?) because they wanted to barter.

Furthermore, SBF was interviewed and joked that there were more arbitrage opportunities in prison than in his previous life as a high-frequency trader.

Consider yourself a "scapegoat"

Last month, SBF filed a notice that he would appeal his fraud and money laundering convictions. Reporter Cohan said the SBF talks to new attorneys for about an hour almost every weekday.

SBF told reporters that he was "set up" as a "scapegoat" for FTX's collapse - saying his only mistake was a mistake that left FTX "vulnerable to bank runs and calculations by competitors." middle. The SBF also added that a reasonable penalty should be a civil penalty, not a criminal one.

Cohan noted that the SBF "still does not believe it committed any crime" and portrayed itself as an innocent participant who did not have the opportunity to fully negotiate with prosecutors. And he is "not entirely sorry" about his conviction for helping embezzle about $8 billion in client funds.

SBF also claims that the team of lawyers who took over FTX blamed him for the company's collapse. The former FTX CEO believes that if he had stayed at the helm of FTX, the company would not have gone bankrupt but would have become a thriving $80 billion business.

SBF added that after his lawyers convinced him that running both trading firms Alameda and FTX was a conflict of interest, he should have tried harder to find someone other than his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison to lead Alameda, or simply ignored their advice and continued both. manage both companies.

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This article: FTX founder SBF trades rice in prison, saying “there are more arbitrage opportunities” and still believes he is innocent. First appeared on Zombit.