After smuggling his way onto Tucker Carlson’s YouTube channel, disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried found himself in solitary confinement at Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.
The unauthorized interview, coinciding with his 33rd birthday on March 6, 2025, landed him in hot water with prison officials. Shocking, right? Turns out the Federal Bureau of Prisons doesn’t appreciate inmates giving surprise YouTube appearances.
Prison officials shocked that unauthorized YouTube interviews aren’t on the approved inmate recreation list. Who knew?
The interview—viewed over 730,000 times in just two days—featured SBF (as the cool kids call him) waxing poetic about his prison lifestyle. Rice and beans. Fellow inmate Sean “Diddy” Combs being “kind” to him. Must be nice.
But the real kicker came when he started cozying up to the Republican Party, claiming he’d distanced himself from Democrats in recent years. Convenient timing, dude.
“I don’t consider myself a criminal,” Bankman-Fried declared to Carlson. The courts disagreed. He’s currently serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted on seven counts including wire fraud and money laundering. He stole billions from FTX customers. But details, right?
The political pivot wasn’t subtle. SBF mentioned donations to Republicans in late 2022 and even co-authored an article supporting Trump’s economic plans. He had previously been a center-left donor who supported Biden’s 2020 campaign before his alleged change of heart. The desperate play for a presidential pardon couldn’t be more obvious if it came with flashing neon signs.
His family reportedly consulted with a Trump-affiliated lawyer about pardon possibilities. The interview apparently doubled his chances—especially following Trump’s pardon of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. No official request has been submitted yet.
The interview was clearly part of a deliberate strategy, as SBF initiated the interview specifically to advocate for his potential release from prison.
Prison officials swiftly responded to the unauthorized media appearance. A Bureau of Prisons representative confirmed they never approved the interview, and SBF’s solitary confinement was the direct result of breaking communication rules.
For a guy who once commanded a $32 billion crypto empire, Bankman-Fried’s new accommodations are considerably less luxurious. From penthouse to prison cell to solitary—quite the downgrade for someone who still can’t admit he’s a criminal.
