Sam Bankman-Fried poses with gangsters in 1st prison photo: He's a good guy and no rat like Tekashi 6ix9ine

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has made friends in prison. He awaits sentencing for fraud and conspiracy in cryptocurrency exchange collapse.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former billionaire and son of Stanford University law professors, is facing sentencing next month for his involvement in the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX. While awaiting sentencing, he has made some new friends in federal lock-up in Brooklyn.

A photo shared by crypto crime reporter Tiffany Fong shows Bankman-Fried standing alongside a former inmate named G Lock, a former member of the Bloods, and four other inmates in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. According to Fong, Bankman-Fried is liked by other inmates, and G Lock described him as "a good guy" while also acknowledging that he is "strange as (expletive)."

G Lock also noted that Bankman-Fried has lost weight and compared his actions to those of the rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, praising him for not snitching on anyone. Bankman-Fried's time at the detention center began in August 2023, after he was on house arrest for nearly a year. His house arrest ended when a judge revoked his bond after prosecutors accused him of attempting to intimidate witnesses.

During his trial this past fall, Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, related to the theft of billions of dollars from accounts belonging to customers of his crypto exchange FTX. He was also found guilty of defrauding lenders to FTX's sister company, the hedge fund Alameda Research. He faces up to 110 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 28.

Bankman-Fried, who was once hailed as the boy wonder of crypto, faces a significant prison sentence for his involvement in the collapse of FTX. Despite his previous status as a billionaire and his connections to celebrities, politicians, and Middle East potentates, he now awaits his fate in federal lock-up.

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