Sam Bankman-Fried Says His Arrest Was Politically Motivated

Sam Bankman-Fried alleged that the former Biden administration orchestrated his 2022 arrest after he began donating to Republicans.

The FTX founder, serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud, said in a post on GETTR that his private donations to GOP candidates prompted retaliation from the Democratic Party.

“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,” he said in a post that was seemingly published by a friend.

Bankman-Fried said in the post that he had donated ”tens of millions” to Republicans.

His comments revive earlier suspicions from House Republicans, who had questioned whether the arrest was timed to block his testimony.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s Phone Messages Wiped

Bankman-Fried pointed to recently revealed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records showing that former Chair Gary Gensler’s phone messages at that time were “wiped.”

The Office of Inspector General, which is an independent office within the SEC, said last month that the agency’s IT office “implemented a poorly understood and automated policy.” This policy resulted in “an enterprise wipe of Gensler’s government-issued mobile device,” the office said.

As a result of that wipe, Gensler’s text messages from between October 2022 and September 2023 were lost, it added. 

Bankman-Fried said the timing of his arrest ”raised serious questions about [Biden’s SEC/DOJ],” adding that ”Gensler conveniently ‘lost’ those message.”

That period also coincided with the launch of several high profile enforcement actions from the SEC on companies including Binance and Coinbase. 

Bankman-Fried’s Parents Ask Donald Trump To Pardon Their Son

Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, have reportedly reached out to the White House for a pardon from US President Donald Trump, who earlier pardoned Silk Road marketplace founder Ross Ulbricht. 

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022 following US federal charges that tied him to the collapse of FTX after the platform imploded just a month before.

Investigations after the collapse and court documents suggested a “complete failure of corporate controls” and pointed to the absence of reliable financial records. 

Bankman-Fried was convicted on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy in November 2023, and in March 2024 was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. The FTX founder was also ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture. 

Bankman-Fried has formally appealed his conviction. His next appeal hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4 in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

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