Former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried is no longer incarcerated in New York or California. According to prison records, he is now being held in Oklahoma. As of May 23, federal Bureau of Prisons inmate records indicate that Bankman-Fried is at the Federal Transit Center in Oklahoma City. This facility typically holds inmates for short periods before they are transferred within the prison system, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General.
Reports from May 22 suggested that authorities might move Bankman-Fried from the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn to the Mendota Federal Correctional Facility (FCI) in California. Despite U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan's recommendation that Bankman-Fried remain at MDC Brooklyn, the transfer to Oklahoma appears to have taken place. Judge Kaplan of the Southern District of New York had suggested that Bankman-Fried stay at MDC Brooklyn to facilitate easier access to his appellate counsel.
Since his bail was revoked in August 2023, Bankman-Fried has been housed in New York. After his sentencing hearing in March 2024, he requested to remain at MDC Brooklyn for convenient access to his appellate counsel. In November 2023, a jury convicted the former FTX CEO of seven felonies, leading Judge Kaplan to sentence him to 25 years in prison. On May 22, Judge Kaplan filed a letter with the court asking for Bankman-Fried to stay in New York until his appeal was sufficiently briefed.
It remains unclear how long Bankman-Fried will stay at the Oklahoma facility. If transferred to FCI Mendota, he would be closer to his parents' home in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Federal Transit Center in Oklahoma, located near Will Rogers World Airport, houses 1,414 inmates, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Bankman-Fried is the only individual connected to the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research who has pleaded not guilty and subsequently been convicted of defrauding customers. Other former FTX and Alameda executives, including Ryan Salame, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh, have all pleaded guilty and accepted deals with authorities. Ryan Salame's sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 28.
