The parents of Sam Bankman-Fried, who defrauded roughly $10 billion through his crypto exchange FTX, have complained to a New York court that their son will be put in “extreme danger” if sentenced to prison due to his awkwardness and inability to read social cues, stemming from his autism.
“I genuinely fear for Sam’s life in the typical prison environment,” wrote his mother Barbara Fried, a Stanford Law professor, in a letter to Manhattan federal Judge Lewis Kaplan. The document is being filed alongside his legal team’s effort to limit his sentence to 6.5 years. He currently faces up to 110 years in prison on his fraud conviction, pending his sentencing on March 28th.
Bankman-Fried, 32, has behavior that “can seem odd and off-putting to people that don’t know him” as well as “a number of mannerisms that are associated with high-functioning people with ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder].”
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“It may be that some of the inmates will come to appreciate Sam once they get to know him. But miscommunication in that environment is dangerous, and Sam’s traits greatly increase the likelihood of its occurring,” she added. “He is bad at responding to social cues in ‘normal’ ways, uncomfortable looking people in the eye, uncomfortable with outward shows of emotion.”
“The broader public was charmed by many of his eccentricities — or at least pretended to be — while he was on top of the world. The moment he fell, the same public became merciless, ridiculing his awkward traits and verbal style, taking them as a sign of duplicity or worse, and portraying him as a freak with evil intentions,” she argued. “The media’s weapon of choice is words. The same cannot be said for prisons.”
As Valuetainment reported in September, FTX under its new leadership sued Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents to recover millions of dollars in “fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds.” His parents, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman (also a Stanford Law School), “exploited their access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves,” read the court documents.
Bankman-Fried had been in detention at his parents’ California home until he had his bail revoked and was sent to jail by a federal judge. He gave his parents a $16.4 million luxury property in the Bahamas, which served as FTX’s headquarters, as well as a $10 million cash gift, according to the filing.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics, economics, and culture for Valuetainment. Follow Shane on X (Twitter).
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