Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year sentence for defrauding users of his collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX and is being held in the same New York prison as Combs, who is accused of sex trafficking.

Before his crypto empire collapsed in November 2021, Sam Bankman-Fried considered going on Tucker Carlson’s show to “come out as a Republican” to improve his image. On Thursday, nearly a year after being sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding users of the FTX exchange, the FTX co-founder finally carried out his plan.

From a “tiny room” at the Metropolitan Federal Detention Center in Brooklyn, Bankman-Fried celebrated his 33rd birthday with a lengthy interview with Carlson, revealing new details about prison life, including being in the same cell block as Sean “Diddy” Combs. Both Bankman-Fried and Combs, who is facing sex trafficking charges, were held in the same cell block, NBC reported.

“I only saw one side of him, which was Diddy in prison, and he was very kind to everyone in the cell; he was kind to me,” Bankman-Fried said on “The Tucker Carlson Show.” “And it’s a situation that no one wants to be in.”

Life behind bars

Bankman-Fried, 33, was sentenced in November 2023 on seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering for defrauding FTX clients and creditors of the Alameda Research hedge fund. Prosecutors said he “committed one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.”

Asked about prison life, Bankman-Fried said he had “made some friends” at the Brooklyn center, where he was housed in a unit for high-security inmates, NBC News reported.

“It was pretty dystopian,” he said. “But luckily I wasn't in any physical danger.”

He also said his cell block has many inmates from high-profile cases and “a lot of ex-gangsters — or alleged ex-gangsters.” When asked how other inmates felt about being with him and Combs, Bankman-Fried said some XEM it as an opportunity to meet people they might not otherwise meet.

“They were very good at chess. That was one thing I learned,” he added. “People who had been armed robbers, who didn’t speak English, and who probably hadn’t finished high school—some of them were very good at chess. I’m not saying they were grandmasters, but I lost to them all the time. I didn’t expect that.”

In addition to playing chess and preparing for his appeal, Bankman-Fried also said he had started reading novels again. Carlson noted that he looked “less stressed” and “healthier” after two years in prison. Carlson also said that Bankman-Fried had appeared to be “high on Adderall” during previous television appearances, but Bankman-Fried denied using the drug.

“I never took it. But I was pretty exhausted. My mind was racing with a million things to worry about,” he explained.

Change political views

Bankman-Fried described his political views changing over the past five years, from being a major Biden donor to having a better relationship with Republicans before going to court.

“A possibly relevant fact: In 2020, I was on the center-left side and donated to the Biden campaign,” he said. “I hoped he would be a stable center-left president. But over the next few years, I spent a lot of time in Washington, DC, and was shocked — not in a good way — by what I saw from the Biden administration.”

“By the end of 2022, I had donated as much to Republicans as to Democrats, but I did it privately. This started to become known right around the time FTX collapsed, so that may have been part of the reason,” he added.

At trial, prosecutors presented a document in which Bankman-Fried XEM ways to restore his image after the collapse of FTX, including appearing on Carlson’s show to “state an anti-woke agenda.” Asked if he had solicited help from politicians during the trial, Bankman-Fried denied it, saying he did not want to do “anything inappropriate.”

Views on the future of cryptocurrency

Bankman-Fried said he is “hopeful” things are going in the right direction for cryptocurrencies under President Donald Trump, and many “positive” things have happened.

“The big question is, when things get real, will the government do what is necessary and figure out how to do it?” he said. “Right now, crypto is not at the point where it can become an everyday tool.”

Carlson also asked if he believed the crypto industry was still shady. Bankman-Fried said he might have agreed a decade ago, but the industry is “smaller” and more regulated now.

Bankman-Fried's financial condition

Carlson asked if Bankman-Fried had “any money left” — and he admitted “hardly any.” In addition to the prison sentence, he was also ordered to pay an $11 billion fine.

“The company I owned… without intervention, today would have about $15 billion in debt and $93 billion in assets. So, in theory, there should have been enough money to pay everyone back,” he said. “But that’s not how it worked out. Instead, everyone got sucked into the bankruptcy process.”

“This is a truly colossal disaster,” he said. “Not preventing this from happening is the biggest regret of my life.”

Prison Birthday Plans

Bankman-Fried, who spoke to Carlson on Wednesday, said he had no plans. He said he had never “thought about birthdays” even on the outside and was not looking forward to “celebrating another year in prison” when he turns 33 on Thursday.

“So you're not going to tell Diddy it's your birthday tomorrow? I don't believe that,” Carlson asked.

Bankman-Fried replied that while he had no intention of telling Combs, “someone might tell him.”