Sam Bankman-Fried’s big interview was a train wreck

Where to begin? In a decade of covering crypto, I’ve seen a lot of strange spectacles but nothing quite like Sam Bankman-Fried’s interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit—a 45-minute display of delusion and sociopathy in which the disgraced FTX founder whined, wheedled, and did everything but acknowledge his responsibility for the financial crime of the year.

To his credit, host Andrew Ross Sorkin had done his homework and pulled no punches about Bankman-Fried’s misdeeds. He pointed out how SBF’s decision to raid customer accounts to plug holes in his hedge fund was akin to a bank teller using customer deposits to do some speculation on the side. Just because the teller intended to repay the money didn’t make that decision less of a crime.

Bankman-Fried, of course, did not see it that way and spun his massive financial fraud as a simple mistake. All of these different accounts were so darn complicated, you see, and it just became hard to keep everything straight. He was just a young lad who tried his hand at business and somehow got in over his head.

The worst part of this was watching the New York Times audience lap up the performance, laughing at Bankman-Fried’s plight and even delivering a hearty round of applause at the end for a man who has ruined the finances of thousands. I don’t recall Bernie Madoff getting this sort of reception after his fraud was uncovered.

I found this particularly hard to watch because, having been duped by Bankman-Fried before, I watched him employ the same sort of schtick I once found endearing—the nerdy affect, the aw-shucks demeanor, the self-deprecating jokes. The difference this time is that I knew I was watching a stone-cold sociopath, and it wasn’t very funny.

The only question I had was why the hell Bankman-Fried was doing this in the first place and doing it without an attorney by his side. One plugged-in crypto source has told me the rumor is that his own lawyers have fired him as a client, and this wouldn’t be surprising—you can’t represent someone who won’t heed your advice. Meanwhile, another set of lawyers—those working for the Southern District of New York—were no doubt watching the New York Times performance keenly, and taking notes to round out a federal indictment that can’t be too far away.

Jeff John Roberts
[email protected]
@jeffjohnroberts

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