Writing indirectly through a friend on GETTR, the former billionaire alleged that his downfall followed a quiet shift in his political donations from Democrats to Republicans – moves he says triggered retaliation from federal agencies.
According to Bankman-Fried, he had supported center-left causes in 2020 but began leaning toward the political center by 2022, disillusioned by what he described as “anti-crypto enforcement” led by SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the Department of Justice. He claims his arrest was timed to derail his testimony before Congress and to block a crypto regulation bill he had been working on.
The assertion revives a long-running theory from some Republican lawmakers who questioned the timing of his detention in the Bahamas, which occurred the night before he was due to testify in Washington. Bankman-Fried suggested in his post that critical SEC messages that could have clarified the agency’s coordination were later “lost” due to internal mishandling.
That claim gained traction last month when the SEC’s inspector general confirmed that Gensler’s government-issued phone underwent an automated wipe, erasing messages from October 2022 to September 2023. The loss of those communications coincided with a wave of SEC crackdowns on major crypto firms, including Coinbase and Binance.
Now serving a 25-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy tied to the multibillion-dollar collapse of FTX, Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence and insists his prosecution was politically motivated. His family has publicly appealed to President Donald Trump for a pardon, drawing comparisons to the recent clemency granted to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
From behind bars, Bankman-Fried continues to communicate through intermediaries. “I can’t post directly,” he noted in another GETTR update, claiming his voice is still being heard – if only through “approved BOP phone and email channels.”
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