The Federal Bureau of Prisons transferred Sam Bankman-Fried to a jail in California as of Wednesday, in response to the BOP’s inmate database. The disgraced founding father of the failed crypto alternate FTX was beforehand in Oklahoma for about two weeks from late March via April at a federal transit middle for prisoners. Earlier than then, he resided in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Middle. Now, he’s at one among two federal, medium-security prisons for males in Victorville, a small metropolis east of Los Angeles.
“He’s gone from a five-star hotel down to a one-star hotel,” Larry Levine, a federal jail guide and former inmate, advised Fortune, evaluating Bankman-Fried’s lodging in Brooklyn to these in Victorville. “It’s that much of a difference.”
Kyle Sandler, a jail guide who was launched from federal custody a yr in the past, echoed Levine and stated Victorville was a “notoriously hard” federal jail. “He’s in real prison now,” he added.
In 2014, the District of Columbia Corrections Info Council, an oversight group that displays the prisons by which inmates from D.C. are detained, reported that Victorville prisoners witnessed excessive ranges of violence, together with gang-related deaths and assaults.
A spokesperson for the BOP declined to say whether or not the jail within the California metropolis is Bankman-Fried’s long-term vacation spot and didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the jail’s situations. Levine guessed that Victorville was Bankman-Fried’s dwelling for the foreseeable future. “It looks like he has been designated,” he stated.
Attorneys for Bankman-Fried didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The arrival of the onetime crypto mogul in California probably places an finish to hypothesis on the place Bankman-Fried would reside after a federal decide sentenced him to 25 years in jail in March 2024. A jury beforehand discovered the previous CEO responsible of fraud for siphoning greater than $8 billion of buyer funds from his crypto alternate in one of many largest monetary crimes in U.S. historical past.
All through his trial, Bankman-Fried had been in a Brooklyn holding facility in a bit reserved for high-profile inmates like Sean “Diddy” Combs and Luigi Mangione. The decide presiding over his case really useful that the BOP switch him to a jail in California to be nearer to his dad and mom, who’re professors at Stanford College, within the Palo Alto space, about 400 miles north of Victorville.
Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals, nevertheless, requested for him to stay in Brooklyn as he appealed the jury’s responsible verdict.
Along with his attraction, Bankman-Fried is reportedly looking for a pardon from President Donald Trump. Earlier than the BOP transferred him from Brooklyn to Oklahoma, the previous CEO waged a media blitz in an obvious bid to curry favor with the president. He even carried out an unauthorized video interview from jail with Tucker Carlson, the previous Fox Information host who now has his personal program.
The publicity stunt reportedly landed Bankman-Fried in solitary confinement and could lead to additional punishments in opposition to the onetime crypto wunderkind.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
