Sam Bankman-Fried.
Erika P. Rodriguez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images;Nastasic via Getty Images
For Sam Bankman-Fried, losing internet access is more frightening than jail, says Michael Lewis.Lewis told “60 Minutes” he thinks Bankman-Fried “could survive jail forever” if he had internet access.”The Big Short” author is set to published a book on the rise and fall of FTX on Tuesday.
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is more afraid of losing access to the internet than getting locked up, according to the author of an upcoming book on FTX.
Michael Lewis shared his views on Bankman-Fried during an interview on “60 Minutes,” which aired on Sunday. Lewis’s book on the rise and fall of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, “Going Infinite,” is set to be published on Tuesday.
Lewis told “60 Minutes” that Bankman-Fried’s greatest fear about going to prison would be losing his internet access.
“Now that sounds crazy, but I do think that if he had the internet, he could survive jail forever. Without having a constant stream of information to react to — I think he may go mad,” said Lewis, who has penned books on finance such as “The Big Short” and “Flash Boys.”
“If you gave Sam Bankman-Fried a choice, this is quite serious, of living in a $39 million penthouse in the Bahamas without the internet, or the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn with the internet, there’s no question in my mind he’d take the jail,” Lewis added.
A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment on Lewis’ remarks.
Lewis enjoyed intimate access to Bankman-Fried when writing his book, and followed him around for months. Lewis ended up speaking to Bankman-Fried more than a hundred times over two years, per “60 Minutes.”
Bankman-Fried was charged in December 2022 with illegally funneling millions of dollars from FTX customer funds into his trading firm, Alameda.
The embattled crypto entrepreneur is scheduled to go on trial on Tuesday, where he will face seven criminal charges ranging from securities fraud to money laundering.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to these charges. He could face over 100 years in prison if convicted of all the charges.