2025-04-11
FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, has
been moved to a medium-security federal prison in Victorville, California, a
facility known for violence and harsh conditions.
Marking a new chapter in his 25-year
sentence for orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.
According to the Federal Bureau of
Prisons’ inmate database, Bankman-Fried arrived at the Victorville facility
this week after brief stops at a federal transfer center in Oklahoma and the
Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he had been held since his
conviction.
Victorville, located about two hours
northeast of Los Angeles, houses male inmates and has a long-standing
reputation for brutality.
A 2014 report by the D.C. Corrections
Information Council cited high levels of violence, gang activity, and inmate
deaths at the prison.
“He’s in real prison now,” said Kyle
Sandler, a former federal inmate turned prison consultant.
Another consultant, Larry Levine,
compared the Brooklyn detention center to a “five-star hotel” and Victorville
to “a one-star hotel,” underscoring the stark downgrade in conditions.
Bankman-Fried, once hailed as a crypto
wunderkind, was convicted in 2023 of stealing more than $8 billion in customer
funds through his now-defunct exchange, FTX.
The sentencing judge recommended a West
Coast facility to keep him closer to his parents, both professors at Stanford
University in Northern California. However, Victorville is still roughly 400
miles from Palo Alto.
Despite his legal team’s efforts to
keep him in Brooklyn while he appeals the verdict, Bankman-Fried now appears to
be settled in California for the foreseeable future. The BOP has not confirmed
whether this will be his permanent location, and his lawyers have not responded
to requests for comment.
Before his transfer, Bankman-Fried
reportedly sought a pardon from former President Donald Trump, even
participating in an unauthorized interview with Tucker Carlson from jail.
Now, he is at one of the toughest
prisons in the federal system.
