Sam Bankman-Fried, disgraced founder of a now-bankrupt crypto empire that appears to have engaged in securities fraud, accounting fraud, and banking fraud, is enjoying life at his Bahamas manse and will soon participate in a New York Times conference.
Bankman-Fried is slated to appear at NYT’s DealBook alongside other notable guests, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and more.
Social media users widely mocked the decision to go forward with Bankman-Fried’s speech, which was scheduled before the collapse of his companies revealed widespread mismanagement and the misappropriation of customer funds.
Many noted that infamous Ponzi scheme con artist Bernard Madoff was arrested 24 hours after his schemes became public. Yet Bankman-Fried continues to tweet like a free man unconcerned with possible arrest by U.S. authorities, and the New York Times continues to publish glowing puff pieces on him.
This story, for example, examines Bankman-Fried’s alleged philanthropy without ever mentioning that his charitable giving was made possible by fraud and often involved giving away other people’s money.
Twitter owner Elon Musk described the media’s treatment of fallen crypto king as one of the biggest failures in U.S. journalistic integrity of the 21st century.
Other users took a more conspiratorial angle, wondering what’s going on behind the scenes that has prevented U.S. authorities from seizing Bankman-Fried and any records that might shed light on his financial misconduct.