Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried is no longer incarcerated in New York or California, where his parents own a home — according to prison records, he’s in Oklahoma.
As of May 23, inmate records for the Federal Bureau of Prisons showed that Bankman-Fried was being held at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. According to the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice, the facility confines inmates on a “short-term basis” for transfers within the prison system.
SBF’s relocation to Oklahoma, coupled with reports from May 22, suggested that authorities may transfer the former FTX CEO from the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Mendota. The transfer appeared to have happened despite Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recommending SBF stay at MDC Brooklyn.
Bankman-Fried had been housed in New York since a judge revoked his bail in August 2023 and, following his March 2024 sentencing hearing, requested to remain at MDC Brooklyn to “facilitate access to his appellate counsel.” A jury convicted the former FTX CEO of seven felony counts in November 2023, and Judge Kaplan later sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
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In a letter with the court filed on May 22, Judge Kaplan requested that Bankman-Fried remain in New York “until his appeal has been fully briefed to facilitate access to appellate counsel.”
At the time of publication, it was unclear how long Bankman-Fried would be confined to the Oklahoma facility. If transferred to FCI Mendota, the former FTX CEO would stay close to his parents’ San Francisco Bay Area home. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website, the Oklahoma facility near the Will Rogers World Airport houses 1,414 inmates.
Bankman-Fried was the only individual connected to the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research to plead not guilty and be convicted for his role in defrauding customers. Former FTX and Alameda executives Ryan Salame, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh all pleaded guilty and accepted deals with authorities. Salame’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 28.
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