Sam Bankman-Fried, the American entrepreneur, former cryptocurrency mogul and the co-founder of FTX and Alameda Research, is one of the most influential figures in the crypto industry, amassing a multi-billion-dollar fortune.
But, in 2022, FTX collapsed amid allegations of fraud, which led to his arrest and conviction for financial crimes, which remains as one of the biggest scandals in the world of crypto.
The Rise and Fall of FTX
FTX was founded in 2019 and soon became one of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges, which Sam Bankman-Fried promoted as a trustworthy platform that attracted major investors from around the world.

But, in November 2022, reports revealed that Alameda had improper access to FTX customer funds, and that they were using billions for risky investments. Later, FTX's financial records showed that most of its balance sheet was backed by its own token FTT, which led to concerns about its liquidity. This led Binance CEO Changpeng to sell their FTT holdings, triggering a bank run on FTX.
When customers rushed to withdraw funds, it was seen that FTX did not have enough reserves to cover them. Thus, on November 11, 2022, FTX declared bankruptcy, and Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested after he resigned as CEO, and left for the Bahamas.

Sam Bankman-Fried's Life In Prison With Diddy
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Sam Bankman-Fried talked about his life in prison and about sharing the cell with Sean "Diddy" Combs, the rapper and entrepreneur, who was arrested in September 2024 on charges of s*x trafficking and racketeering.
In the wide-ranging prison interview, Sam Bankman-Fried, who is incarcerated in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center alongside Diddy, said:
"He's been kind. I've made some friends. It's a weird environment. It's sort of a combination of a few other high profile cases and then a lot of, you know, ex gangsters, alleged ex gangsters."
He further stated:
"I've only seen one piece of him, which is Diddy in prison. He's been kind to people in the unit. He's been kind to me. It's a position no one wants to be in. Obviously, he doesn't, I don't," Bankman-Fried said. "It's kind of a soul crushing place for the world in general, and what we see are just the people that are around us on the inside rather than who we are on the outside."
Watch the video below to find out more.

Your perspective matters!
Start the conversation