The Parent Trap
The New Yorker|October 02, 2023
Inside Sam Bankman-Fried's family bubble.
By Sheelah Kolhatkar
The Parent Trap

"Sam will never speak an untruth", Barbara Fried said. "It's just not him."

The Magistrates Court of the Bahamas, in Nassau, is situated in an imposing pink-and-white building edged with palm trees. On December 13, 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former C.E.O. of the now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, arrived there to ask for release on bail after being indicted on eight criminal charges. Bankman-Fried typically wears T-shirts and shorts, no matter the occasion; on this day, he wore, like armor, an ill-fitting navy-blue suit. He’d spent the previous night in jail, where he hadn’t been given the medication he normally took for his depression. But of greater concern was the indictment, unsealed that morning in the United States, which accused him of fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and other crimes that could lead to more than a hundred years in prison.

The evening before, he and a colleague had been working on their laptops in the oceanfront penthouse of a resort where he lived when his parents, who were visiting, called him into a bedroom. Minutes later, according to the colleague, a group of Bahamian law-enforcement officers, accompanied by members of the resort’s staff, strode into the apartment. One officer had a warrant for Bankman-Fried’s arrest.

When the officers entered the bedroom, Bankman-Fried asked for a drink of water and seemed to gird himself for what was ahead. “I can give you my passport,” he told a broad-shouldered officer, who in turn suggested that he might want to bring a jacket with him. Passing his phone, wallet, and college class ring to the colleague, whom he’d asked to try to keep his parents calm, Bankman-Fried raised his wrists to be cuffed.

Denne historien er fra October 02, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra October 02, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA THE NEW YORKERSe alt
The Football Bro - Pat McAfee brings a casual new style to ESPN.
The New Yorker

The Football Bro - Pat McAfee brings a casual new style to ESPN.

If, on a cool weekend morning in autumn, you happen to be watching “College GameDay,” on ESPN, don’t worry about figuring out which of the broadcasters behind the improbably long desk is Pat McAfee. He’s the one with the roast-pork tan, his hair cut high and tight, likely tieless among his more businesslike colleagues. The rest of the onair crew—Lee Corso, Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, and, newly, the former University of Alabama coach Nick Saban—tend to look and dress and talk like participants in an old-school Republican-primary debate. McAfee, though, favors windowpane checks on his jackets and a slip of chest poking out from behind his two or three open buttons. If the others are politicians, he’s the cool-coded megachurch pastor who sometimes acts as their spiritual adviser.

time-read
6 mins  |
September 23, 2024
The Dark Time. - On the Arctic border of Russia and Norway, an espionage war is emerging.
The New Yorker

The Dark Time. - On the Arctic border of Russia and Norway, an espionage war is emerging.

On the Arctic border of Russia and Norway, an espionage war is emerging. The point of contact between NATO and Russia's nuclear stronghold is the small town of Kirkenes. For years, Russia has treated the area as a laboratory, testing intelligence and influence operations before replicating them across Europe.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 16, 2024
MIRROR IMAGES
The New Yorker

MIRROR IMAGES

‘A Different Man” and The Substance.”

time-read
6 mins  |
September 23, 2024
OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
The New Yorker

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

Proximity to wealth proves perilous in Rumaan Alam’ novel Entitlement.”

time-read
9 mins  |
September 23, 2024
EYES WIDE SHUT
The New Yorker

EYES WIDE SHUT

How Monet shared a private world.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 23, 2024
WITH THE MOSTEST
The New Yorker

WITH THE MOSTEST

The very rich hours of Pamela Harriman.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 23, 2024
HUGO HAMILTON AUTOBAHN
The New Yorker

HUGO HAMILTON AUTOBAHN

On the Autobahn outside Frankfurt. November. The fields were covered in a thin sheet of snow.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 23, 2024
TRY IT ON
The New Yorker

TRY IT ON

How Law Roach reimagined red-carpet style.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 23, 2024
SORRY I'M NOT YOUR CLOWN TODAY
The New Yorker

SORRY I'M NOT YOUR CLOWN TODAY

Bowen Yang's trip to Oz, by way of conversion therapy and S..N.L.”

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 23, 2024
SNIFF TEST
The New Yorker

SNIFF TEST

A maverick perfumer tries to make his mark on a storied fashion house.

time-read
10+ mins  |
September 23, 2024