- Convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried reiterated that FTX was never bankrupt and it was the lawyers who cooked up its bogus filing.
FTX has etched itself into history as the biggest scandal in crypto. Its effects were far-reaching across the industry, giving anti-crypto politicians and regulators more reason to put the digital assets sector on a tight leash during the past administration.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the company’s co-founder and former CEO, was the main character in the FTX collapse. Currently, he is serving a 25-year sentence for multiple counts of fraud (of varying degrees and classification) and money laundering.
SBF Didn’t File for FTX Bankruptcy, the Lawyers Did
On Tuesday, SBF reiterated on the X social media platform that FTX was never bankrupt and that he never filed for bankruptcy. He claimed “lawyers took over the company,” and they orchestrated its bankruptcy filing four hours later.
The convicted senior exec of the firm attached an excerpt of his sworn statement in court to prove that he had long raised the issue. Additionally, he accused lawyers from Sullivan & Cromwell of staging the bankruptcy to “pilfer it for money.”
However, commenters in SBF’s post weren’t convinced of his supposed script. They asked why he halted withdrawals in FTX in the first place if it wasn’t bankrupt. Moreover, they argued that tying up the company’s funds in unsolicited investments and then being unable to handle payouts and withdrawals is tantamount to bankruptcy. For them, the lawyers only executed what was already in play.
Interestingly, others questioned how SBF was able to tweet while in jail.
How is SBF Tweeting From Jail
SBF is presently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island. Like all detention facilities, the low-security federal prison in Los Angeles, California, prohibits inmates from possessing or using mobile phones, accessing social media platforms, or having unsupervised internet access.
The former FTX CEO has found a way to circumvent the restriction through approved channels and a third party with access to his verified account on X. As disclosed in his social media account, the posts were “SBF’s words. Posted through a proxy.”
Likewise, the account’s bio indicates that SBF monitors its social media posts via his prison-monitored email. His account notably became active again after two years of radio silence, from January 20, 2023, to February 25, 2025.
Other high-profile inmates like SBF’s fellow convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving over 11 years of jail time, and the notorious Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is serving a four-year prison term, are employing the same tactic on their currently active social media platforms.
