Sam Bankman-Fried Arrest Sparks Wild Jeffrey Epstein Comparisons

Following his arrest, social media has erupted in unfounded predictions that the FTX CEO cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried may suffer the same fate as sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein, a financier who was awaiting trial on charges of child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, was found hanged in his New York City prison cell in 2019.

While Epstein's death was officially ruled a suicide, conspiracy theorists around the internet have insisted, without evidence, that he was killed to prevent more details from coming out during his trial.

Bankman-Fried has been under scrutiny since it was announced that his cryptocurrency exchange company FTX had filed for bankruptcy in November. It is not yet clear what the CEO has been arrested for.

"USA Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY," read a tweet by the U.S. Attorney Southern District of New York Twitter page on Monday.

"We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time."

Bankman-Fried was set to testify on December 13 before Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives about the collapse of FTX, ahead of his arrest.

This has fueled wild—and not always entirely serious—comparisons between Bankman-Fried and Epstein. Memes have begun to circulate on Twitter suggesting there is a similarity between their cases.

"Just in case, well you know if SBF gets Epsteined. Lot of crypto billionaires been dying lately," one social-media user wrote.

They also shared an image of Epstein's head speaking to Bankman-Fried, photoshopped onto a background of clouds, with the words: "You'll be okay Sam, Jail cameras will ensure your safety."

This is in reference to the two jail cameras in front of Epstein's cell, which reportedly malfunctioned on the night of his death.

Another Twitter user joked that Bankman-Fried's cameras would also malfunction in the same way Epstein's did.

"Maintenance working on the surveillance camera's in Sam Bankman-Fried's prison yard," the Twitter user wrote, alongside a gif of a man destroying a camera with a hammer.

The Twitter page Big Paul Zoo Box also shared a video of other accounts that had made jokes or predictions about Bankman-Fried being killed and it being ruled a suicide.

The conspiracy theories have also been fueled by comments made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has highlighted that Bankman-Fried was a major Democratic donor.

Some social-media users have taken this to mean that an investigation into Bankman-Fried's financial activity could spell trouble for the Democrats or President Joe Biden, suggesting that if he were to die, it would therefore implicate the government.

On November 13, Musk tweeted: "SBF was a major Dem donor, so no investigation."

Bankman-Fried was described by Politico in August 2022 as the Democrats' "newest megadonor," but he has also made contributions to Republicans.

Open Secrets, which tracks political lobbying, shows that FTX spent more than $70 million on lobbying in 2022. These included contributions to multiple Democratic and liberal PACS.

In the last election cycle Bankman-Fried made public donations of $990,000 to Democratic candidates and $235,000 to Republican candidates. He gave another $38.8 million to outside groups, including $28 million for his Protect Our Future PAC, which claims to boost candidates who will help to prevent future pandemics.

He gave $6 million to the House Majority PAC, aligned with Democratic House leadership, and $500,000 to the Senate Majority PAC, according to Open Secrets.

However, he claimed he gave equally to Republicans through so-called dark donations. "I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties," he told crypto journalist Tiffany Fong.

Following the announcement of his arrest, the Bahamian authorities said they are ready to act "promptly".

Bankman-Fried was arrested "without incident" at his luxury apartment in Nassau around 6 p.m. according to a statement from the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder also released a statement on Bankman-Fried's arrest, saying that once an extradition request is made by the United States, his country "intends to process it promptly."

"While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against [Bankman-Fried] individually, the Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere," Pinder tweeted.

FTX collapsed with about $8 billion owed to depositors. While many were institutional investors, thousands of small investors also lost out, including some who said they had lost their life savings.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Sam Bankman-Fried for comment.

Update 12/13/22, 2 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional background information.