Crypto Community Knocks the New York Times for Pity Post on SBF

As the prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) continues after the collapse of his exchange FTX, the New York Times has received backlash for its recent pity article on the disgraced founder.

The article which earned the ire of the general crypto community was published on December 26. According to the article titled “In the Bahamas, a Lingering Sympathy for Sam Bankman-Fried”, the majority of Bahamian locals only had good things to say about SBF and were full of praise for him.

While some of the locals don’t understand why SBF is being prosecuted for his alleged crimes, many others said he has a wonderful heart and they felt horrible for him. It appears that the locals’ view of SBF stems from his numerous donations. 

Prior to FTX’s crisis, SBF made donations of millions of dollars to regional charities, churches, and government agencies. The locals who said SBF’s crimes were incomparable to the gang violence of the Island now worry about economic fallout should crypto investors not return to the Island.

Meanwhile, several people on social media had different opinions about the post from the New York Times. In David Morris’s Tweet, he feels NYT is trying to normalize financial crimes with its post. Another critic in a Tweet expressed dissatisfaction saying NYT’s article is similar to covering up destitute people stealing from Walgreens.

Sam Bankman-Fried Continues to face Trial

Since filing for bankruptcy, FTX, SBF, and other top executives have been subject to intense scrutiny and investigations from several regulators. The disgraced founder was arrested on December 12 in the Bahamas on charges of wire and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, and money laundering.

Although he admitted that there were errors in the management of the exchange, SBF has since denied any knowledge of the fraud committed at FTX He was granted a $250 million bail after his extradition to the United States.

SBF alongside FTX co-founder Gary Wang is now worth $0 as previously reported by TheCoinRise. The disgraced founder who was once valued at $24 billion now worries about paying his legal fees. He could be locked up for up to 115 years if convicted of all charges.