Sam Bankman-Fried just got an early start on his hellish new life

I’ll always remember the smell. In a previous career, I spent a week doing doing bail hearings, which involved going back and forth between court and holding cells that reeked of sweat, stale air, and fear. It’s a very particular smell and one I will forever associate with jail and the people who end up there.

As of Friday, that smell will be a permanent part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s life after the FTX swindler breached his bail conditions, leading a federal judge to rule he can no longer stay at his parents’ fancy Palo Alto home pending his October trial date. And the odor is just one unpleasant aspect of Bankman-Fried’s new life. His new home is Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, which is notorious for crammed conditions, abusive guards, and food that sometimes turns up with maggots. Bankman-Fried will also contend with rarely seeing the sun and the constant threat of violence.

While there is nothing funny about inhumane prison conditions, there is plenty ironic about Bankman-Fried’s situation. Not long ago he professed not to care about money as part of the flimflam philosophy known as effective altruism—even as he lived in Versailles-level splendor. Now he will learn what a nonmaterial lifestyle really means.

It’s also hard to feel sorry for Bankman-Fried since it’s a miracle he was out on bail in the first place. The majority of other criminal defendants in America are poor with darker skin colors, and most judges wouldn’t think twice about detaining them if they were accused of major felonies. But Bankman-Fried is from an elite family and can hire top-notch lawyers, and has an appearance and pedigree that makes him relatable to the professional class.

Finally, it’s entirely thanks to Bankman-Fried’s own hubris and stupidity that he is now in prison before his trial. He broke his bail conditions by engaging in witness tampering, and in the most egregious fashion imaginable—leaking the private diary of his girlfriend-turned-accuser to the media and proposing a corrupt deal to a lawyer who is part of the investigation. What did he think would happen?

Bankman-Fried is still presumed innocent, so we can’t predict his future with certainty. But given there is a mountain of evidence suggesting he stole billions of dollars belonging to his customers, and tried to buy off Washington, D.C., in the process, it’s all but certain he will be in prison for a long time to come.

Jeff John Roberts
[email protected]
@jeffjohnroberts

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