After conducting an unauthorized interview with Tucker Carlson on his 33rd birthday, fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried has been thrown into solitary confinement.
Prison officials at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center weren’t exactly thrilled when they discovered SBF had bypassed their strict communication protocols. The interview aired, and boom—straight to solitary he went.
The March 6, 2025 video call violated US Bureau of Prisons rules, which are pretty clear about inmates needing permission before chatting with media personalities.
But SBF, being SBF, decided rules were optional. Classic.
During his forbidden Tucker time, Bankman-Fried discussed his cushy prison life (well, formerly cushy), crypto regulation, and—get this—expressed openness to Republican ideas.
He also maintained his innocence, desperately trying to distance himself from that pesky “criminal” label stuck to him like gum on a shoe. In the interview, he explicitly stated that he does not consider himself a criminal.
His new accommodations are markedly less comfortable.
Solitary means 23 hours daily in a cell, minimal outside contact, and saying goodbye to whatever amenities he’d been enjoying.
No more unauthorized birthday chats for him.
The timing couldn’t be worse for his legal situation.
Currently serving a 25-year sentence for fraud with an $11 billion restitution order hanging over his head, this stunt could torpedo his appeal chances.
Judges tend to frown on inmates who can’t follow basic rules. Shocking, right?
Meanwhile, the interview sparked renewed speculation about a potential Trump pardon.
Polymarket odds nearly doubled after the chat aired.
Nothing says “I deserve clemency” like breaking prison rules on national television.
Prison officials aren’t commenting much, but their actions speak volumes.
The system doesn’t make exceptions, even for birthday boys with billions in stolen crypto.
For now, SBF’s world has shrunk to a tiny cell—plenty of time to contemplate whether Tucker Carlson was worth it.
The original conviction on November 2, 2023, by a federal jury in New York set in motion the series of events leading to his current predicament.
The Bitcoin-wonder-kid-turned-convict just learned a hard lesson: in prison, unauthorized interviews come with concrete consequences.
