Sam Bankman-Fried's doing surprisingly well in prison: Reporter

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame has been sentenced on Tuesday to seven and a half years in prison, longer than the defense and prosecution had requested. The FTX insider is reportedly being transferred to a California facility.

Puck News Founding Partner William Cohan joins Market Domination Overtime to give insight into the FTX saga and his interview with Sam Bankman-Fried in prison.

Cohan describes Bankman-Fried's current state in prison: "He's only been convicted since last year, and his sentence was in March. So I actually found him in better spirits than I thought he'd be, quite honestly, he said that he's actually been treated pretty well, which, I mean, or at least not badly. We've all seen the prison movies. We know sort of the gestalt of prison life. It's probably not something any of us would want to experience, but he seemed pretty, pretty good frame of mind. Frankly, I'm a little surprised."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination Overtime.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video transcript

Former FTX executive Ryan Salem has now been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison that term longer than the defense or the prosecution had asked for and indicates how tough the judge will be toward perhaps other members of Sam Beman Fried's inner circle.

The sentencing comes as the FTX co founder himself reportedly awaits transfer to a California facility.

William Cohen, founding partner at Puck News, spoke with Beman Fried earlier this month.

He joins us now and you didn't, you spoke to him in prison and you wrote about that for Puck News.

And what's fascinating to me is not just the conversation you had with him, but the whole process is really interesting bill.

So welcome, first of all to be and, and tell us about that.

Well, you know, it's a beautiful day out here in New York today and it was that kind of similar day on, on May 7th.

You can only visit on Tuesday and this is uh in Brooklyn at the metropolitan detention center, uh which is in Sunset Park, a part of Brooklyn.

I've never been and not many people really, you know, hang out there.

Uh You know, these two monolithic uh buildings, you know, of course, I went to the one, you know, that looked more inviting, that turned to be out to be, which is sort of the, where the men, most of the men are kept.

But it turns out he was kept with a group of 35 men in the women's side of the prison.

So I had to go back over there, but because they're understaffed, they didn't let you in at the appointed hour that they're supposed to let you in.

So we all had to sort of wait around anyway.

I, I got in there eventually.

It was quite a challenge.

And then uh ended up talking to him for about an hour and 15 minutes.

He just suddenly we were in this cafeteria area which was sort of bright and cheery and welcoming to families.

And then, uh out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sam and his chocolate brown jumpsuit, uh you know, notice the hair, uh looking much thinner and uh sat down and we just talked for an hour and 15 minutes couldn't bring in any recording divide, not in a pad and pen bill, no pad and pencil, not a pen, just my, my brain, which uh so I had to focus on what he was saying and uh focusing on the remembering how did he, I'm just curious, but you get a sense like just how he seemed to you what was his mood to the extent that you could kind of read it.

I mean, look, I would have thought that it would be an incredibly de de depressing and experience knowing that you're gonna be in a place like this for 25 years.

Unless there's some degree of leniency.

I mean, maybe it's, it's obviously early days, he's been there since August.

He's only been, you know, convicted since last year and his sentence was in March.

So I actually found him in better spirits than I thought he'd be quite honestly.

Uh, he uh said that he's actually been treated pretty well, which I mean, or at least not badly, you know, because we've all seen the, you know, prison movies, we know sort of the gestalt of prison life.

It's probably not something any of us would want to experience.

But he seemed, uh, you know, pretty, pretty good frame of mind frankly.

Uh I'm a little surprised.

I mean, he talks to his lawyer and his parents who are probably also acting as his lawyers.

Uh, you know, former Stanford law professors.

Uh, you know, for at least an hour a day, he plays video games, watches, uh, uh movies on a tablet that they give him that's not connected to the internet.

And he's also can sends, you know, emails through core links.

So I, I'm sure it's not great.

II, I think he's, you know, I'm sure he feels like he's wasting his mind there.

Uh But you know, this is what he's got right now.

Well, his mind right now seems also really focused on an appeal process totally.

So, I mean, do you feel like Bill, is he in denial?

Does he strike you as a person in denial?

I mean, the whole world has a certain perception of this guy, I think, fair to say, or most of the world.

Um, and he pretty steadfastly has said like he didn't mess up.

Yeah, I, I mean, I, at Julie at one point I said to him, do you feel finally like you were being punished for something that you did wrong?

And you're, you know, maybe the sentence was too long or it was unfair but you, you really did feel like you did something wrong and you're willing to admit that and, and now you're getting punished for it or do you feel like you're in here unfairly and you're being punished for something you didn't do, Kare?

I think he, he was the latter.

He, he still maintains his innocence that he did nothing wrong.

No real sense of remorse there.

Bill.

No, I have to say, I mean, I, I he's not, he's not adamant about it.

He's not like pounding the table.

He's not, you know, emotional about it because I don't think that's his nature, but he definitely feels like he did nothing wrong.

And, well, that's, that's been the argument, right.

I sort of like, you know, I made a mistake but it wasn't, it wasn't criminal, it wasn't gross negligent, it wasn't negligent.

You know, it was a t, if you, if, if, if they had just let me, if, you know, and he blamed Sullivan and Cromwell, of course, and if they had just let me, you know, continue you raising the money that I was trying to raise when we had the liquidity crunch, it all would have worked out fine.

You can see now everybody's getting their money back.

The investments that I made were actually fine.

Uh, you know, it was just a time period where they just went to town on me and tried to, you know, the, the, the, the, the perception was the boat was sinking every man for himself and, you know, who gets thrown off the boat or, you know, puts in irons first is the, you know, the CEO and, you know, I think that's what he thinks happened to him.

Everybody else got to cut a deal including Ryan, including everybody else that reported to him.

S and C, you know, uh he, you know, he claims went to the southern district of New York and sort of reported on him and uh in an effort, you know, potentially, uh to save themselves and keep them out of uh any, you know, any potential litigation.

So, uh I think he felt like he was uh quite lonely and that they were gunning for him and wanted to make an example of him.