Key takeaways:
- SBF is allegedly being transported by officials from New York to a federal facility in California, which is close to his parents’ house.
- SBF was the first person involved in the demise of Alameda Research and FTX to go to prison for his part in customer fraud.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of FTX, is allegedly being transported by officials from New York to a federal facility in California, which is close to his parents’ house.
Despite his attorneys’ demands to remain in the New York region while he files an appeal, Bankman-Fried may serve most of his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Mendota, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on May 22. In March, a federal judge found SBF guilty of seven felonies and sentenced him to twenty-five years in jail.
Since a judge revoked SBF’s bail in August 2023—prior to his case going to trial—he has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn. As part of his notice to appeal his conviction and imprisonment, the former CEO of FTX asked to remain in the Brooklyn prison following his sentencing hearing in order to “facilitate access to his appellate counsel.”
If SBF were to be relocated to FCI Mendota, he would live around 200 kilometers away from his parents’ California home, where he was essentially detained after his extradition from the Bahamas and indictment in 2022 and 2023. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website states that 931 prisoners are currently housed at the facility.
SBF was the first person involved in the demise of Alameda Research and FTX to go to prison for his part in customer fraud. Ryan Salame, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh, his associates, have all entered guilty pleas and are anticipated to be sentenced shortly. The sentencing hearing for Salame is set for May 28.
It is unlikely that SBF and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) will reside in the same building, despite a lot of online rumours to the contrary. Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison, to be served in either Washington or Oregon, by a judge following his guilty plea.
