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The Confessions of S.B.F.

An occasionally chilling conversation with Sam Bankman-Fried about accountability, naivety, family, prison, politics, and the strategy embedded in his walk of shame.

s.b.f. interview
In conversation, Sam Bankman-Fried comes across as deceptively well-produced in a homespun way, as if he were a kid who got in over his head and is really, really sorry about what happened. Photo-illustration: Puck; Photos: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto; Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
Theodore Schleifer
December 6, 2022

Sam Bankman-Fried has given nearly a dozen public interviews, on nearly every media platform imaginable, in the month since FTX filed for bankruptcy, all against the advice of his lawyers. Bankman-Fried, after all, is under investigation for misappropriating billions of dollars of his own customers’ deposits to fund risky bets by his trading firm, Alameda Research, which it then lost. Meanwhile, Alameda extended S.B.F. a personal loan for some $1 billion. Countless people, from amateur crypto traders to institutional investors, have lost a fortune.