Sam Bankman-Fried Transferred to Oklahoma Prison Following Unauthorized Tucker Carlson Interview

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been relocated to a federal transit facility in Oklahoma City. The move, noted on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website on Thursday, comes just weeks after he conducted an unsanctioned video interview with Tucker Carlson from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. This transfer marks the beginning of his journey to a permanent prison, where he will serve out a fraud sentence with a release date set for November 17, 2044.

The transfer process began abruptly when prison officials woke Bankman-Fried around 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday at the Brooklyn facility, according to a Wall Street Journal report citing an informed source. He was not told his destination at the time, adding an element of surprise to the early-morning move. The Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, where he now resides temporarily, acts as a key hub in the U.S. federal prison system, facilitating inmate transfers through the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System, often referred to as "Con Air."

Bankman-Fried’s time in Brooklyn was never intended to be permanent. Following his conviction on seven fraud and money-laundering charges tied to the $11 billion collapse of FTX and Alameda Research, Judge Lewis Kaplan recommended he serve the bulk of his 25 year sentence in a lower-security facility in California’s Bay Area, near his parents’ home by Stanford University. The Oklahoma stopover is a procedural step in that direction, aligning with standard prison transfer protocols.

Details Surrounding the Controversial Interview

The catalyst for this sudden relocation appears tied to Bankman-Fried’s unauthorized interview with Carlson earlier this month. During the conversation, he maintained his innocence, telling the conservative commentator, "I don’t think I was a criminal," despite the Department of Justice’s stance on his actions. He argued that FTX was fully solvent at the time of its collapse and speculated it could have boasted $100 billion in assets against $15 billion in liabilities today, a claim that has stirred debate among observers of the crypto industry.

This was not Bankman-Fried’s first attempt to shape public perception from behind bars. In February, he spoke with the New York Sun, hinting at a shift in his political views toward the right, possibly to appeal to figures like President Donald Trump amid discussions of pardons. His family is reportedly pushing for clemency, and the Carlson interview seems part of that broader effort, though it cost him the support of his crisis manager, Mark Botnick, who stepped down after prison officials confirmed the interview lacked approval.

The Metropolitan Detention Center, where he had been held since August 2023, was ill-suited for a long-term stay, known more as a pre-trial facility than a permanent home for sentenced inmates. Bankman-Fried’s legal saga began after a jury found him guilty last year, concluding a high-profile trial that exposed the inner workings of FTX’s downfall. His transfer to Oklahoma signals the next chapter in a case that continues to draw attention across financial and legal circles.