Sam Bankman-Fried, commonly known as SBF, has been on the radar amidst the lawsuit against him. According to the FBI trial testimony, SBF was scheduled to meet up with the New York City governor, Kathy Hochul. Additionally, reports prove that SBF had links with the NYC Mayor, Eric Adams.
Reports have it that the Mayor and the former FTX CEO had a meeting at a famous Italian eatery.
SBF is a well-known crypto titan and is the founder of FTX, the former leading crypto exchange that has been an instrument in realizing the disclosure of digital currencies. Before the collapse of the exchange firm, Sam Bankman-Fried was in conversations with top political officials. The nature of their meetings is still unknown.
SBF’s prior political links
In the months preceding the FTX collapse, Sam Bankman-Fried was in talks with top financial power brokers before his arrest. At one point, Sam had a soiree with the NYC Mayor at his treasured late-night haunt. This information was gathered by the FBI and was presented as a testimony in his latest hearing. The FBI agent was a specialist in phone record analysis.
Both SBF and the NYC Mayor dined at the Osteria La Biba Italian restaurant in March 2022. According to the mayor’s public schedule, the meeting titled “Hold for Mayor” was at 8:30 p.m., set for March 3. The details of who he was meeting were undisclosed.
Moreover, Mayor Adams is a well-known supporter of digital currencies and is termed a huge crypto enthusiast. This can be proved by his first mayoral paycheck that was denominated into Ether and Bitcoin.
He even had talks of turning New York City into a crypto hub. Adams had previously expressed these crypto development interests that also aligned with SBF’s vision for the digital world. The meeting could have been part of the financial manipulations or just a friendly dinner between friends. However, this is yet to be proved in detail.
In another report, Sam had also planned to meet up with NYC Governor Kathy Hochul at The Capital Grille Steakhouse, which was ironic since SBF is a vegan. This happened in September 2022.
SBF’s high demand before the FTX collapse
Based on the emails prosecutors selected, Bankman-Fried was in demand before the fall of the FTX firm. In another incident, SBF has also been asked by the Bahamian Prime Minister to give his son advice on a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) project.
The crypto wunderkind was a prominent personality in the investment world. This was evidenced by a group of 32 senior financial representatives requesting access to SBF at a group dinner. Among them included Morgan Stanley and George Soros.
The FBI agent who was on record, Special Agent Richard Busick, explained to the jury using a series of meetups and testified, highlighting how SBF’s alleged criminal activities played out in Gotham City.
Agent Busick also testified and revealed that the crypto guru often visited the Big Apple in 2022 before the fall of his company, despite living in the Bahamas.
Once, SBF showed up for a 15-minute photoshoot with Forbes in midtown. Another time, he was spotted with Saudi Arabia’s finance minister, Khalid A. Al-Falih, and also the head of the sovereign wealth fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan. All these meetings were scheduled and streamed by the former CEO’s personal assistant, Natalie Tien. She assisted in managing SBF’s business activities.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s activities impacted NYC’s financial landscape despite not residing in the city. The meetings held together with political officials sparked interest in whether there was a political collaboration with the crypto billionaire or intended manipulation activities in the city’s financial circle.
