Convicted FTX fraudster Sam Bankman Fried was passing out cryptocurrency investment tips to prison guards at a notorious Brooklyn federal facility while awaiting sentencing, according to a report.
The disgraced cryptocurrency guru, who was convicted last year of fraud and money laundering and is facing more than 100 years in prison, reportedly told a guard at the Metropolitan Detention Center to buy Solana, according to New York. The Times reported.
The blockchain platform's value has risen 8% this year, giving it a market capitalization of more than $57 billion.
The company's digital coin, called SOL, sold for $130 on Thursday, up more than 10%.
Bankman Freed's stock information comes as Bitcoin, the world's most popular digital currency, soared above $60,000 on Wednesday for the first time in two years.
As of Thursday, it was trading at $62,315, within range of its all-time high of just under $69,000 in late 2021.
According to the Times, Bankman Fried is spending his time in prison investigating his case.
His lawyers plan to argue in court that his clients deserve leniency because FTX had enough assets to restore them.
Bankman-Fried's mother, Stanford Law professor Barbara Freed, said in court documents that her son is on the autism spectrum and has trouble reading social cues, making him an “extremely dangerous person” in prison. He said he was in a “state”.
Bankman Fried was arrested after authorities said he used $8 billion worth of customer funds to finance risky hedge fund bets.
On Tuesday, his lawyers filed a memo in Manhattan federal court asking for a sentence of five to six and a half years.
Mark Mukasey, one of Mr. Bankman Freed's lawyers, called the 100-year guideline range calculated by the probation officer “barbaric” because it falsely claimed FTX customers had lost billions of dollars. He said that it was based in part on claims made by the government.
He pointed to the bankrupt company's recent claim that it plans to repay all customers in full to support its argument that Bankman Freed was not aiming to steal.
The memo said Bankman Fried “deeply and deeply regrets” the “distress he has caused over the past two years.”
“His sole focus after the FTX collapse was to make his customers whole.”
Bankman Freed's lawyers are pinning their case on the case by attaching a letter written on their client's behalf by Carmine Simpson, a 29-year-old former New York City police officer who was arrested three years ago on charges of soliciting child pornography. I asked for leniency.
Simpson said MDC inmates are secretly working with federal authorities to “blackmail” and “harass” the disgraced FTX mogul.
Mr. Simpson asked U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to show leniency toward Mr. Bankman Fried. Bankman Freed is forced to eat “half-cooked rice, spoonfuls of disgusting beans, and week-old brown lettuce” every week.
Mr Simpson described conditions at MDC as “cruel and inhumane”.
Bearded banker Mann Freed was pictured with a former Bloods gang member in the disgraced crypto tycoon's first prison photo after being convicted of fraud last week.
Before FTX's collapse, Bankman Fried's wealth was estimated to be in the billions of dollars.
He maintains his innocence and plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Bankman Freed admitted that there were errors in the operation of FTX, but testified at trial that he never intended to steal customer funds.
Kaplan is scheduled to sentence the former billionaire, who turns 32 next week, on March 28.
The newspaper has contacted Bankman Fried for comment.
