Fong

Sam Bankman-Fried’s life on bail: Armed guards, daily jogs and gawkers

Compared to his prison accommodations in the Bahamas, the former billionaire appears to be living a pretty decent life while under house arrest.

Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly been leading a decent lifestyle while under house arrest in his parent’s home in Palo Alto — with daily jogs, a security detail, and a couple of in-home visits.

However, it’s not exactly a life of endless luxury either. The former FTX CEO is reportedly required to wear an ankle monitor and is only allowed to leave the house under certain circumstances, among other restrictions.

The aforementioned Palo Alto home, located on the border of Stanford University’s campus, is understood to be a $4 million property equipped with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a pool, according to real estate listings. 

The property has had to be barricaded on both ends, however, as Bankman-Fried has reportedly faced death threats, while his home has turned into something of a tourist attraction for curious onlookers.

His family is shelling out $10,000 a week for a private security firm, according to a Dec. 27 article from the New York Post.

The home Sam Bankman-Fried is reported to be confined to. Source: Google Maps.

As part of the Dec. 22 bond agreement, Bankman-Fried is required to wear an ankle bracelet, has been forced to surrender his passport and is also required to seek approval for any transactions in excess of $1,000. He is also not allowed to possess a firearm, any other weapon or “destructive device”.

He is only able to leave the property for exercise, substance abuse treatment or mental health treatment — something he is understood to have taken up — with multiple reports indicating he has been going for daily jogs with his security detail in tow.

Related: Bankman-Fried may enter plea in NY federal court next week before Judge Lewis Kaplan

While this is still a far cry from the Bahamas penthouse he was previously living in, it still appears far better than the conditions of his cell in Fox Hill prison in the Bahamas. 

That being said, some in the crypto community have been vocal about Bankman-Fried’s release on bail, particularly considering he was able to do so without any upfront payment.

Instead, hs parents’ property has been put up as security for the record $250 million bond, after Bankman-Fried claimed to only have $100,000 in his bank account following the collapse of FTX.

He’s reportedly already been visited by journalist Michael Lewis, author of the popular trading-focused books The Big Short, Liar’s Poker and Flash Boys, who reportedly has been embedded with SBF for over months as part of a book project. 

On Dec. 28, cryptocurrency vlogger Tiffany Fong revealed on Twitter she had visited Bankman-Fried in his parent’s home for a “conversation” just the night before.

Fong was one of the first to interview Bankman-Fried after the exchange went bankrupt in November, and is expected to write about the meeting after her holiday.

Bankman-Fried has denied criminal liability numerous times since the collapse of FTX. He is set to appear in a New York federal court on Jan. 3 to be arraigned on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy.

FEC probe demanded after SBF ‘admitted’ making dark money donations

Sam Bankman-Fried previously told crypto vlogger Tiffany Fong that all his Republican donations “were dark.”

A watchdog group has demanded an investigation into Sam Bankman-Fried’s political donations, claiming the former FTX CEO admitted to donating tens of millions of dollars to Republicans under the table, in violation of federal law.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed the complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Dec. 8, citing comments made by Bankman-Fried in a Nov. 16 interview with cryptocurrency vlogger Tiffany Fong released via YouTube on Nov. 29.

CREW suggested in its complaint that wealthy donors often take advantage of the Citizen United ruling to evade federal disclosure laws by using intermediaries and claiming they were unaware of where the funds ended up, but that Bankman-Fried’s admission negates this plausible deniability. As CREW senior vice president and chief counsel Donald Sherman notes:

“Bankman-Fried said the quiet part out loud. He admitted that he violated federal laws designed to ensure Americans have transparency into those funding elections and now needs to be held accountable.”

CREW has asked the FEC to investigate the violation, and take any further action that is appropriate such as referring the matter to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.

The group accused Bankman-Fried of “direct and serious violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act,” which requires the disclosure of political donations of over $200 a year.

Related: FTX’s Bankman-Fried to face market manipulation probe, Do Kwon chimes in

In the Nov. 16 interview with Fong, Bankman-Fried claimed to have “donated about the same to both parties.” Given that he was the Democrats’ second largest donor, according to OpenSecrets, these “dark” donations appear to involve a substantial amount of money.

“All my Republican donations were dark,” SBF noted, before adding:

“The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans, they’re all super liberal. And I didn’t want to have that fight.”

Bankman-Fried has been on something of an apology tour since his fall from grace, making a variety of public appearances including interviews with The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Good Morning America and plenty of Twitter Spaces.

He has repeatedly claimed that he is conducting these interviews against the advice of his lawyers, who have advised him to lay low and not say anything lest his comments land him in hot water.