Sam Bankman-Fried Says Handing FTX to CEO John Ray Was ‘Biggest Mistake’ in Prison Interview

Sam Bankman-Fried stated in exclusive prison interviews that handing FTX to CEO John Ray III was “ the single biggest mistake I made by far ,” claiming he signed over control at 4:24 am on November 11, 2022, under extreme pressure from Sullivan & Cromwell and company ￰0￱ to a report from Mother Jones , the convicted FTX founder maintains that he never defrauded anyone and that the company was never bankrupt, despite a jury finding him guilty of seven counts of fraud and money laundering in November 2023. Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence at Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island in Los Angeles and has been ordered to pay $11 billion in ￰1￱ parents, Stanford law scholars Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, are preparing to appeal his conviction, arguing that Sullivan & Cromwell wrestled FTX away from him, installed Ray, and profited handsomely while playing a critical role in his ￰2￱ Fried and Joe Bankman, parents of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. |) September 24, 2025 The senators noted the firm advised FTX for years, leading to its collapse, while claiming to be “disinterested” in conducting the fraud ￰3￱ University bankruptcy expert Jonathan Lipson filed a court brief supporting the appointment of a special examiner to investigate whether Sullivan & Cromwell violated ethical ￰4￱ questioned whether the firm violated ethics by promising SBF a reorganization role “ while simultaneously seeking to induce his prosecution .” An independent examiner was eventually appointed over Sullivan & Cromwell’s objections, though the mandate was limited to compiling and summarizing completed investigations rather than conducting new interviews or reviewing primary ￰5￱ examiner determined Sullivan & Cromwell’s past work did not disqualify it from representing FTX through Chapter ￰6￱ Fight Bankruptcy Fees While Bitcoin Holdings Surge 600% Sunil Kavuri, a former adviser at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, had $2 million in crypto assets frozen on FTX when the exchange ￰7￱ launched a class-action suit against celebrity spokespeople, including Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, and Shohei Ohtani, with O’Neal settling for $1.8 million in ￰8￱ became a self-appointed champion for creditors, building an online community that tracks bankruptcy ￰9￱ creditor Lidia Favario, who lost her savings from a car crash settlement, filed numerous objections targeting Sullivan & Cromwell’s fees, noting one professional spent over $1,000 on taxis in a single ￰10￱ argued that they should recover digital assets at their current values rather than the November 2022 frozen cash ￰11￱ account containing $50,000 in bitcoin would now be worth around $350,000, representing approximately 600% ￰12￱ maintains that FTX had nearly $15 billion in net assets when it collapsed and estimates the estate would be worth at least $119 billion today if the bankruptcy team had done ￰13￱ legal team plans to center his appeal on questions surrounding FTX’s solvency, arguing that the jury never saw evidence that the company had sufficient assets to repay its ￰14￱ ￰15￱ III, CEO of FTX Group. |