Crypto FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Thought Jail Would Be ‘Like The Shawshank Redemption’: Report

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Mintz & Gold partner Ira Sorkin discusses whether accused fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried’s “loose lips” will hurt his criminal case on “The Claman Countdown.”

Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly said he thought his time in prison in the Bahamas would be like the classic 1994 film ‘The Shawshank Redemption’.

“I thought it was going to be like The Shawshank Redemption,” the disgraced FTX founder and CEO told Forbes in an exclusive interview published Thursday.

The film starring Morgan Freeman was nominated for seven Oscars.

The former billionaire told the publication that he was assigned to a room with five other inmates in the facility’s infirmary, keeping him away from the general population.

SAM BANKMAN-FRIED TWEETS AWAY WHILE UNDER HOME ARREST

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, arrives in court in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Bankman-Fried painted a stark picture of life in Fox Hill, showering with a garden hose, drying off with a three-by-five-inch towel, and sleeping in the “worst possible bed you could imagine, made of cardboard and a piece of semi-flexible plastic on stilts.”

Once at the helm of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, he said he used his suit jacket he wore for court appearances as a pillow.

The Bahamas Department of Corrections Fox Hill Prison, where FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was being held on December 20, 2022 in Nassau, Bahamas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The 30-year-old made friends with the other inmates and did not feel in danger, although some of them asked him for money.

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Worse, he told Forbes, was the lack of internet.

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted out of the trial court on December 21, 2022 in Nassau, Bahamas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/Getty Images)

“I hadn’t realized how much more internet access combined was more important to me than anything else, but it was about 80% of the total cost of being in prison,” he said, noting that he sometimes had access to a newspaper.

Bankman-Fried said he was limited to one 30-minute phone call during his entire stay, but was allowed to meet with his Bahamian attorneys daily.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan federal court following his arraignment and bail hearings on December 22, 2022 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/Getty Images)

In December, he waived his right to fight extradition and agreed to return to the United States to face charges. He flew on a private FBI plane to a local police station in White Plains, New York, and his attorneys accepted $250 million bail backed in part by his parents’ $4 million California home, where he is now confined with an electronic anklet. bracelet. He has pleaded not guilty to a series of federal charges he faces for allegedly defrauding clients and investors, entering his plea through his attorneys.

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Bankman-Fried’s trial is scheduled for Oct. 2.

Breck Dumas, Marta Dhanis and Reuters of Fox Business contributed to this report.

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