I hope you are all well and having excellent day, welcome to CryptoGod-1’s blog on all things crypto. The news has been well broken at this stage that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been sent back to jail, and in this post I will be taking a look at why he has been put back behind bars, and exactly what its like there.
Bail Revoked
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan was left with little choice but to send SBF back to jail due to the belief of probable cause that the on at least two separate occasions SBF made attempts to tamper with witnesses of his case. This saw SBF's bail revoked on Friday the 11th of August 2023, after SBF had been staying at his parents' house in Palo Alto, California, on a $250 million bail.
SBF Parents Home, Google Maps
This was a long time coming for SBF, who has constantly been in the news since he was extradited from the Bahamas late last year. Prosecutors have been consistently pushing for his bail to be revoked after a number of high profile instances where SBF is considered to have gone against his bail conditions on a number of occasions. These include the use of a VPN to subvert monitoring, contacting potential witnesses who might testify against him and speaking to members of the press about his former colleague Caroline Ellison. Her private and personal diaries were also leaked. These were given to the The New York Times, who published extracts, and within it was shown that her feelings toward Bankman-Fried and her role at the company were potentially not correct for the role she was given as CEO as Alameda Research.
With his trial scheduled to take place on the 2nd of October 2023, where SBF will be facing eight criminal charges. If SBF is found guilty on all of these charges he will be facing the possibility of life in prison. He would also go down of the biggest ever fraudster in the short, but certainly interesting, history of cryptocurrency. This is because it is estimated that SBF owes in and around $3 billion to the users and investors that the FTX exchange defrauded.
At the time of the exchanges collapse and bankruptcy filing in November 2022, the impact caused the price of Bitcoin to drop around 25%. So far that seems to have been the bottom of the current bear market. The collapse, which was mainly caused due to very close and undisclosed dealings between Alameda Research and FTX, will likely go down as one of the biggest ever scandals in crypto and one which has left a damaging and lasting impact on retail investors in the space.
Bitcoin Crashing in November 2022
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn
So far SBF has spent his jail time in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York. The federal detention center was described at SBF's hearing by Judge Lewis Kaplan as being “not on anybody’s list of five-star facilities.” The facility is known to be one of the most notorious jails in New York, with over 1,500 inmates and is famous for its horrible conditions and inmate maltreatment.
The prison was founded in 1994, and MDC has become the main jail housing detainees who are awaiting federal trials in New York City. This became the case after the Manhattan Correctional Center closed in 2021 for improvements. MDC is known for its horrendous conditions, and the prison has long been embroiled in scandals involving inmate mistreatment and corruption.
The facility has often had issues over staffing shortages, while there have been reports of power outages and maggots in inmates' food. Public defenders have called conditions "inhumane" within MDC, with "hyper-surveillance" by overbearing guards, a bad diet, and sleep deprivation all reported. The facility also suffered from an electrical fire in the winter of 2019, which cut off the jail's lighting and heat for days. At this time the temperatures fell to near zero Fahrenheit, which is around minus 18 Celsius. The inmates who complained about the conditions were pepper sprayed, thrown in solitary confinement, and had their toilets shut down.
The lawyers for SBF pleaded for Judge Kaplan not to place SBF in MDC due to a "staffing crisis." However, the judge made it clear that he was unsure if housing SBF at a minimum security jail in Putnam County, about 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City, was a viable option.
MDC, Brooklyn, New York
Many high-profile individuals have been held at MDC in the past, including American singer cum convicted sex offender R. Kelly, rappers 6ix9ine and Fetty Wap, along with child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Ghislaine was involved with Jeffery Epstein and was his main accomplice in getting younger girls to "spend time" with the Epstein on his island.
Epstein was also held in MDC, and this is where he is known to have committed suicide on the 10th August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Many dispute this claim, and there are theories that Epstein was instead 'killed off' before he could testify against others given his known connections to politicians and business elites. There was a probe into his death, and the findings showed that "numerous and serious failures" by staff at the MDC resulted in Epstein, who had been on suicide watch, being alone and unmonitored in his cell. Two prison guards who were on duty the night he died had admitted to falsifying records related to that night. They were later charged in 2019 over their alleged failure to monitor him, but federal prosecutors dismissed the charges in late 2021. The pair instead completed community service work as part of an earlier legal agreement.
Jeffery Epstein before his death
Other big names currently being held at MDC include Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras who has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges, and Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese businessman who has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. Hernandez' lawyers were quick to point out that their client was being held in confinement conditions akin to those of a "prisoner of war." Guo's lawyers stated back in March that MDC was an extraordinarily dangerous environment when they were making reference to a recent lockdown in response to an increase in contraband, which included weapons.
This will not be the first time SBF has been behind bars. When he was first arrested in the Bahamas he was initially held in Fox Hill Prison. The prison is infamous for its its rodent infestations, violence, lack of toilets, and the mixing of children with adult prisoners. SBF reported that he had managed to survive on a jar of peanut butter while in the facility, after his family had made requests for him to be given vegan meals due to his diet. He was given his own room in the maximum security wing of the jail but due to Covid-19 restrictions he was not allowed any visitors.
SBF arrested in the Bahamas
The lawyers for SBF will be working hard to ensure they can get him out of this facility, as they have also cited the lack of guards means he would be unable to access computers to review prosecutors' evidence against him. While I would not wish MDC on anybody given its conditions and history, I am fairly sure there will be little sympathy for SBF. Afterall he did bring this on himself by consistently going against his bail conditions, and this is a timely reminder of the consequences. Come October, he could be facing much worse.
Have a great day.
CryptoGod-1.
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