- Sam Bankman-Fried slinks back onto social media.
- It comes ahead of the FTX founder's November 3 appeal hearing.
- Bankman-Fried recently blamed Biden’s ‘anti-crypto’ agenda for his conviction.
Sam Bankman-Fried is back online.
The disgraced founder of the FTX crypto exchange has made several new social media posts in recent weeks, following a months-long hiatus.
His latest post attempts to pin his conviction of fraud and the misappropriation of $8 billion in customer funds on Biden-era regulators.
“Biden’s anti-crypto SEC/DOJ went after me,” Bankman-Fried said in an October 15 post on GETTR, a small conservative social media site founded by Jason Miller, a former Donald Trump aide.
“They had me arrested weeks before the crypto bill I was working on was set for a vote — and the night before I was set to testify before Congress.”
Bankman-Fried is referring to a scheduled hearing where he planned to answer questions on the alleged corporate wrongdoing that led to his company’s demise.
In a recent social media post, he alleges his arrest was timed to block his testimony. Bankman-Fried did not respond to requests for comment.
‘Highly mobilised effort’
The increased activity comes ahead of the FTX founder’s November 3 hearing that will address the appeal of his conviction and 25-year prison sentence.
Critics allege that Bankman-Fried’s posts are part of a “a highly mobilised and well funded effort” to win him a pardon from President Trump.
In addition to Bankman-Fried’s GETTR post, he also reposted an October 14 X post from an FTX creditor who claims that the exchange could have reimbursed creditors if it hadn’t declared bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried said that he isn’t posting on social media directly from prison, and is instead relaying messages to a friend who is in control of his accounts.
Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SBF denies guilt
It’s not the first time Bankman-Fried has tried to reframe the events surrounding the collapse of his exchange.
In January, the FTX founder’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, were allegedly exploring ways to secure a pardon from President Trump, Bloomberg News reported.
In February, Bankman-Fried spoke about his conviction while rebuffing left wing politics and signaling sympathy with Trump in an interview with the New York Sun.
“I don’t think anyone was guilty,” he said in reference to his and other FTX coconspirators’ guilty verdicts.
In March, he used a phone from prison to participate in an interview with conservative podcast host Tucker Carlson.
In the wide-ranging interview, which touched on Bankman-Fried’s interactions with rapper and convicted criminal Sean “Diddy” Combs, he once again voiced support for the Trump administration and disappointment in the Democratic Party.
“I was really, really shocked by what I saw, and not in a good way,” Bankman-Fried told Carlson, referencing his many trips to Washington, DC, to meet with legislators. “By late 2022, I was giving to Republicans privately as much as I was giving to Democrats.”
After the interview with Carlson, Laura Loomer, a conservative journalist and podcast host, alleged “there is a highly mobilised and well funded effort on the right to lobby Trump world to pardon crypto scammer Sam Bankman Fried.”
“Why on earth are GOP consultants, big crypto donors and Trump world operatives trying to get SBF a pardon from Trump? How much are they getting paid to do this?” she said at the time.
Loomer reiterated her belief in the pardon effort on Tuesday after Bankman-Fried’s recent social media posts.
Trump pardon?
Since then, the alleged efforts to secure a pardon have gone quiet.
Until now.
Trump hasn’t commented publicly on the possibility of a pardon for Bankman-Fried. But the notion may not be as far-fetched as it seems.
One of Trump’s first moves in office was to make good on his pledge to pardon Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web drug marketplace Silk Road, which used Bitcoin and other crypto as currency.
Ulbricht was sentenced to two life sentences plus 40 years in 2015.
Tim Craig is DL News’ Edinburgh-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out with tips at tim@dlnews.com.
