Sam Bankman-Fried Thrown Into Solitary Over Tucker Carlson Interview: Report

Tucker Carlson’s interview with disgraced crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, which was distributed online Thursday, seemed to be a clear ploy to get media consideration with the purpose of finally scoring a pardon from President Donald Trump. Nevertheless it seems like SBF is now paying a value for the interview. The previous billionaire has reportedly been tossed into solitary confinement as a result of the interview wasn’t permitted by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, based on a brand new report from the New York Occasions.

In accordance with the Times, the Bureau of Prisons has strict guidelines about how interviews are performed with inmates, and the federal company confirmed to the newspaper that it didn’t give permission for the interview with Carlson to go ahead. We don’t know when the interview really came about, although clues recommend it was Wednesday, the day earlier than it was revealed on-line to social media platforms like Rumble and X. SBF is presently being held on the Metropolitan Detention Middle in Brooklyn.

It’s additionally not clear what sort of gear was used to permit SBF and Carlson to speak. It’s fully doable SBF merely used a smuggled smartphone to speak with Carlson, and whereas that does look like probably the most simple solution to accomplish an interview like this, that’s purely speculative.  SBF recommended in his chat with Carlson that he was actually lacking having high-tech gadgets at his disposal, although the subject solely got here up when the previous Fox Information host requested if the crypto government was beforehand on stimulants earlier than he entered jail. SBF blamed his erratic look in previous interviews on being distracted by tech gadgets. Carlson took the chance to say that tech wasn’t wholesome.

The brand new report from the New York Occasions appears to substantiate what anybody with a bit little bit of frequent sense assumed when Carlson’s interview dropped: SBF, who’s presently serving a 25-year sentence for fraud after his crypto firm FTX collapsed in 2022, is angling for a pardon from President Trump.

Bankman-Fried’s dad and mom, Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, are two legislation professors at Stanford and are reportedly consulting with Kory Langhofer, an Arizona lawyer who beforehand labored on Trump’s presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020, based on the Occasions. Langhofer would presumably have deep connections in Trump World, however the newspaper studies they haven’t had direct contact with Trump. At the least, not but.

Nevertheless it looks as if it might be an uphill climb for SBF and his household to get a pardon from Trump. The Occasions says the trouble “doesn’t seem to have gained traction,” and it’s simple to guess that SBF’s previous associations with high-profile Democrats could also be hurting his possibilities. Nonetheless, SBF himself admitted as soon as he was in jail that he was additionally secretly donating to Republicans earlier than the implosion of FTX.

SBF stated within the Thursday episode of Carlson’s present that he doesn’t consider Democrats “saved” him whereas being prosecuted throughout the Joe Biden years as a result of they knew he was giving to Republicans as nicely. Carlson saved appearing all through the interview as if it’s simply regular and affordable for rich individuals who donate to politicians to count on corrupt favors from those self same individuals of their time of want. However SBF didn’t actually take the bait, saying that it might have been “inappropriate” to ask for assist.

Trump not too long ago pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Street founder convicted in 2015 who was serving a 40-year sentence for cash laundering, amongst a number of different fees associated to the darknet web site. Ulbricht’s pardon was really a marketing campaign promise made by Trump within the lead as much as the election, largely seen as a favor to the crypto neighborhood, which considers Ulbricht a hero.

Bankman-Fried by no means explicitly requested for a pardon from Trump throughout his interview both, and it appears fairly clear at this level that irrespective of how determined he’s to get out of jail, he’s going to let issues occur behind the scenes fairly than go begging. However who is aware of what would possibly occur sooner or later. SBF turned 33 on Thursday and has solely served a few years of a 25-year sentence.