====== Sam Bankman-Fried ======

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**Sam Bankman-Fried**, also known simply as **SBF**, is an American [[cryptocurrency]] trader. 

He was a cofounder and CEO of the embattled cryptocurrency exchange [[FTX]] and the associated [[Alameda Research]]. He is the son of [[Joseph Bankman]] and [[Barbara Fried]], and brother of [[Gabe Bankman-Fried]].((Schleifer, T. (2022, November 11). //The S.B.F. Pandemic.// Puck. https://archive.vn/seYar))

===== History =====

==== Early life ====

SBF was born March 6, 1992 in [[united_states:california:Stanford]], [[united_states:California]] on the campus of [[Stanford University]].((//Sam Bankman-Fried.// EA Forum. Retrieved November 24, 2022, from https://archive.ph/rOiPC)) ((Parloff, R. (2021, August 12). //Portrait of a 29-year-old billionaire: Can Sam Bankman-Fried make his risky crypto business work?// Yahoo! Finance. https://archive.ph/jAPFn)) 

He attended [[Crystal Springs Uplands School]], described as "a top Silicon Valley prep school."((Chittum, M. (2022, December 14). //Sam Bankman-Fried attended a top Silicon Valley prep school where his senior class prank reportedly included making $100 bills with his face on them called “Bankmans.”// Markets Insider. https://archive.ph/MrYWB)) ((SamBF. (2009, February 23). //Bay Area High School Puzzle Hunt.// Art of Problem Solving. https://archive.ph/2gnzu)) As a high school student, Bankman-Fried attended [[Canada/USA Mathcamp]], a summer program for mathematically talented youth. There he met his future business partners [[Sam Trabucco]] (co-CEO of Alameda) and [[Gary Wang]] (co-founder and CTO of FTX).((McMahon, K., & Huang, V. G. (2021, December 28). //Here are 10 of the most surprising little-known facts we learned about the 29-year-old crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried after months speaking to his closest friends, family, and colleagues.// Business Insider. http://archive.today/2021.12.29-014820/https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-trading-billionaire-sam-bankman-fried-ftx-alameda-surprising-facts-2021-12)) ((Bankman-Fried, S. (2020, May 17). //Raising the bar.// FTX Research. https://web.archive.org/web/20221125085649/https://blog.ftx.com/blog/raising-the-bar/)) Some of his high school assignments and activities are publicly available through his profile and posts on [[Art of Problem Solving]].((//User Profile - SamBF.// Art of Problem Solving. Retrieved January 10, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20230110014508/https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/user/57409))

==== Effective altruism ====

In 2012, during his third year as a physics major at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Bankman-Fried was exposed to [[effective altruism]] at a talk by [[William MacAskill]] on the ethics of career choice.((Gabriele, M. (2021, August 1). //FTX Trilogy, Part 1: The Prince of Risk.// The Generalist. https://archive.ph/wZmQ0)) SBF was part of a fraternity at MIT called [[Epsilon Theta]].

Upon graduating from MIT, Bankman-Fried joined [[Jane Street Capital]], a quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider, where he worked as a trader and designed the firm's automated off-exchange trading system. While working at Jane Street, Bankman-Fried gave about half of his salary to charity, primarily to animal causes.((Faux, Z. (2022, April 3). //A 30-Year-Old Crypto Billionaire Wants to Give His Fortune Away.// Bloomberg. https://archive.ph/uvIOa)) After serving briefly as director of development at the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]], he founded Alameda Research in 2017 and FTX two years later.((Deutch, G. (2021, July 28). //The young crypto billionaire who wants to change political fundraising.// Jewish Insider. https://archive.ph/eyUPq))

More recently, he has contributed to organizations working in global [[poverty]], [[climate change]], [[artificial intelligence|AI]] safety, [[biosecurity]] and [[pandemic preparedness]].((Schleifer, T. (2022, February 16). //The Notorious S.B.F.// Puck. https://archive.ph/cPVZ8))

Bankman-Fried signed [[Bill Gates]]' "[[giving_pledge|The Giving Pledge]]" in June 2022.((November 12, 2022 | [[https://twitter.com/HRenkel/status/1591575326584438784?s=20&t=4jTumlHsFa1th07cO82zJA|@HRenkel (Twitter)]])) 

==== 2020 election ====

In 2020, SBF donated $5.2 million to [[Future Forward USA]] (a super-PAC affiliated with [[Facebook]] co-founder [[Dustin Moskovitz]]) supporting [[Joe Biden]], becoming one of the president's top donors.((Wallace, B. (2021, February 2). //The Mysterious Cryptocurrency Magnate Who Became One of Biden’s Biggest Donors.// Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/02/sam-bankman-fried-biden-donor.html)) ((Schwartz, B. (2022, December 19). //How former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and friends quietly donated to political groups and relatives.// CNBC. https://web.archive.org/web/20221222201107/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/19/how-ftx-founder-sbf-and-friends-quietly-donated-to-political-groups-and-relatives.html))

==== 2022 election ====

During the 2021-2022 election cycle, he contributed $5,000 to [[BFB PAC]].((//BFB PAC PAC Donors.// OpenSecrets. Retrieved December 31, 2022, from https://archive.ph/20SuG)) He also gave $6 million to [[House Majority Forward]] in 2022.((Schwartz, B. (2022, December 19). //How former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and friends quietly donated to political groups and relatives.// CNBC. https://web.archive.org/web/20221222201107/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/19/how-ftx-founder-sbf-and-friends-quietly-donated-to-political-groups-and-relatives.html))

==== Arrest and charges ====

SBF was arrested in the [[Bahamas]] on December 12, 2022.((Schwartz, B. (2022, December 19). //How former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and friends quietly donated to political groups and relatives.// CNBC. https://web.archive.org/web/20221222201107/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/19/how-ftx-founder-sbf-and-friends-quietly-donated-to-political-groups-and-relatives.html)) A 14-page indictment was filed that alleged "numerous and varied" campaign finance violations, including conspiring with others to make, receive and hide illegal campaign contributions.

During SBF's trial in October 2023, his lawyers filed a motion petitioning the court to provide him doses of extended-release [[Adderall]] to help him focus on court proceedings.((//Lawyers For Sam Bankman-Fried Petition Judge For More Adderall.// (2023, October 16). ZeroHedge. http://archive.today/2023.10.16-171416/https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/lawyers-sam-bankman-fried-petition-judge-more-adderall))