‘Sucks for Sam’ Says Martin Shkreli as Bankman-Fried Is Booked Into Brooklyn Prison

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was carted off to a detention facility in New York on Friday after his bail was revoked. His lodging can be a far cry from his guardian’s house on the Stanford College campus in Palo Alto, California, the place he beforehand dwelled on home arrest.

The disgraced crypto wunderkind was remanded to Metropolitan Detention Middle, (MDC) Brooklyn after U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan discovered possible trigger to consider Bankman-Fried engaged in witness tampering. Bankman-Fried already faces a litany of felony prices, comparable to fraud, in connection to the collapse of FTX final November.

In accordance with the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ inmate locator, Bankman-Fried is now among the many roughly 1,600 incarcerated people on the facility, which has housed different high-profile inmates prior to now.

At one level, the inmate record included convicted intercourse trafficker and former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. She was, coincidentally, represented by Bankman Fried’s present lawyer, Mark S. Cohen. That was earlier than she was discovered responsible of crimes and offenses in reference to the late financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In November 2021, Maxwell decried the circumstances at MDC Brooklyn. She informed the U.Okay.’s Day by day Mail about rats dwelling in her cell and “creepy” guards that prevented her from taking showers comfortably.

“Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli was additionally held at MDC Brooklyn earlier than he was convicted in 2018 of a multi-million greenback fraud scheme. In 2017, he informed The Tab to “keep away from this place,” recalling a time he nearly acquired right into a battle whereas ready in line to make use of a pc.

On Saturday, Shkreli stated on Twitter that MDC Brooklyn “sucks for Sam” and posited that the previous crypto mogul might not see house once more for 15 to 30 years. Shkreli had beforehand consoled Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon (who has since been arrested) that “jail shouldn’t be that unhealthy” on a recording of the UpOnly podcast.

New York Lawyer Basic Leticia James referred to as dwelling circumstances at MDC Brooklyn “unacceptable and inhumane” in 2019 when she filed an amicus transient in a lawsuit towards the Bureau of Prisons over an influence outage that left prisoners freezing chilly.

However there’s an opportunity that Bankman-Fried could possibly be moved to a distinct facility forward of his trial in October. Federal prosecutors urged the FTX founder could possibly be held at a Putnam County Correctional Facility earlier than his bail was revoked, per Reuters.

Putnam County Correctional Facility is billed as a medium-level safety facility in upstate New York. It’s situated about an hour and a half north of the courthouse that Bankman-Fried left in handcuffs on Friday.

Whereas the circumstances at MDC Brooklyn are identified to be harsh, so too had been the circumstances on the Bahamas’ Fox Hill jail, the place Bankman-Fried was held earlier than being extradited to the U.S. after he was arrested final December.

A report in 2021 by the U.S. State Division discovered most cells at that jail lacked mattresses and bathrooms. Lots of the facility’s cells had been infested with a mixture of rats, maggots, and bugs as properly.

By comparability, the house that belongs to Bankman-Fried’s mother and father—the place he was despatched after his arraignment—probably felt like paradise. With expansive home windows, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and a grand piano, the house additionally has a swimming pool, per The San Francisco Commonplace.

Throughout his West Coast stint, requests had been made on Bankman-Fried’s behalf to permit him to make use of media streaming providers like Spotify and Netflix,  whereas with the ability to browse information web sites like CoinDesk and Decrypt.

Towards the tail finish of his keep, Bankman-Fried’s counsel sought to increase the previous crypto mogul’s visitor record to incorporate his “shut buddies” and “family assist,” signaling that Bankman-Fried was feeling lonely and wanted a maid.

In accordance with the BOP’s web site, inmates can add as much as 10 buddies or associates to their visiting record, though it’s unclear whether or not Bankman-Fried can be topic to tighter restrictions. And, unsurprisingly, the MDC Brooklyn’s commissary record makes no point out of in-house cleansing providers.