Disgraced crypto exec holding out hope to be granted bail
But Bankman-Fried also prepared to ‘face the music’
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced and indicted former cryptocurrency executive, spends his days in a Bahamian jail watching movies and reading news articles about himself, holding out a sliver of hope that he will be granted bail and soon leave, according to a prison official who interacts with him on a regular basis.
Bankman-Fried might also soon decide to give up fighting extradition and allow himself to be brought to the U.S. to face charges, the official said.
Days after he arrived at the prison known as Fox Hill, Bankman-Fried remains in “good spirits” in the facility’s sick bay, where he has been undergoing a medical evaluation for several days, and he has expressed confidence that his lawyers will convince a judge to grant him bail after their first attempt failed, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
But if the lawyers’ efforts were to fail, Bankman-Fried would then waive his right to fight extradition and go back to the U.S. to “face the music,” he told the official on Friday morning in a brief exchange.
In court on Monday
Reuters reported Saturday evening that the former FTX executive is expected to appear in court on Monday for a hearing to reverse his decision to fight extradition.
The official described the young ex-billionaire as “a little arrogant,” but overall “a nice guy” who has kept to himself and seemed “awfully scared” during his first days at the prison. He wouldn’t laugh when the other men held in the same room jokingly asked him how he managed to make so much money.
Earlier this week, as Bankman-Fried was watching a local TV news report about himself, the official asked him how he felt. He responded unperturbed: “It’s OK, I will deal with it,” the official recalled.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A tremendous fall
Bankman-Fried’s life has taken a dramatic turn since he was arrested. Until last week, he lived just a few miles away in a $30 million penthouse with his closest friends, running one of the world’s most well-known crypto currency exchanges. As U.S. regulators and prosecutors release an array of charges against him, his new address at a correctional facility, notorious for its unsanitary conditions and severe overcrowding, underscores his dramatic fall from grace.
As he waits for his new bail hearing on Jan. 17, there is a chance the former CEO of FTX could be transferred out of the sick bay — which is distinctly nicer than the rest of the facility and has amenities like air conditioning and proper beds — to a prison cell without running water or even a toilet.
His extradition trial, meanwhile, begins Feb. 8, but he could decide at any time to accept extradition and be sent back to the U.S. expeditiously before then.
Opened in 1952, Fox Hill, as it is commonly known, is the country’s only prison and has a long history of inmate complaints that have been backed up by expert witnesses and court documents. There is little or no access to running water, and prisoners are often forced to defecate in plastic bags or buckets. Many develop bed sores from sleeping on the bare ground.