Sam Bankman-Fried
Also known as: SBF
Federal Inmate
Known For
Bankman-Fried orchestrated the largest cryptocurrency fraud in U.S. history by diverting billions in FTX customer deposits to prop up Alameda Research, triggering the exchange's bankruptcy and convictions on multiple felony counts.
About
Once a crypto wunderkind, Bankman-Fried launched FTX from its Miami headquarters, catapulting it to a top-tier exchange before its 2022 implosion exposed rampant misuse of $11 billion in customer funds routed to his Alameda Research hedge fund. A November 2023 jury verdict pinned him with seven felony counts including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering conspiracy, leading to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan's 25-year sentence plus $11 billion forfeiture in March 2024 to aid victim restitution. Transferred from Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center—where he bunked near Sean Combs—to California's FCI Terminal Island, he maintains an appeal while claiming remorse in rare interviews, insisting he never viewed his actions as criminal. Though FTX's collapse ranks among America's costliest financial scandals, recovered assets now promise payouts to those who lost life savings overnight.
