Sam Bankman-Fried’s prison X rant explodes FTX fraud and bankruptcy story

From a U.S. prison, Sam Bankman-Fried uses X to deny FTX was ever bankrupt, clashing with fraud verdicts and court records of an $8B customer fund hole.

Core facts: he is tweeting from prison

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, is serving a 25‑year federal sentence after being convicted on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy tied to an estimated multibillion‑dollar hole in customer funds. He is currently incarcerated in the U.S. federal prison system, with Bureau of Prisons records and multiple reports placing him in low‑security custody in California following earlier stints in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Despite that, his verified X account has again become a megaphone. In his latest post, published on Feb. 10, 2026, the account declares: “Agree with almost all of this. But FTX was never bankrupt. I never filed for it. The lawyers took over the company and 4 hours later they filed a bogus bankruptcy so they could pilfer it for money.” U.S. rules do not grant federal inmates open social‑media access, so any outward‑facing posts are almost certainly being relayed through intermediaries, whether lawyers, family, or other third parties.

His claim: “FTX was never bankrupt”

Bankman-Fried’s new message attempts to rewrite the FTX collapse, insisting that Chapter 11 lawyers “filed a bogus bankruptcy so they could pilfer it for money.” That framing is sharply at odds with criminal findings that he siphoned more than $8 billion in customer assets, leaving the exchange deeply insolvent and triggering one of the largest fraud cases in modern financial history.

Court records and regulatory complaints describe FTX as effectively balance‑sheet insolvent once the hidden deficit at its sister trading firm Alameda Research was exposed in late 2022. Even as post‑collapse asset recoveries and a roaring crypto bull market have boosted estimated creditor recoveries above par in some scenarios, judges and prosecutors have been explicit: solvency after a market rebound does not erase prior fraud.

How is he still moving markets and headlines?

This is not the first time activity on Bankman-Fried’s X account has jolted traders. Prior bursts of posting — including a simple “gm” — have coincided with speculative spikes of more than 30% in the defunct FTX token FTT, as punters treat his messages as a meme‑driven trading catalyst rather than a signal of fundamental value. Crypto outlets have documented how “pumping from prison” via that account continues to stir volatility despite his conviction.

At the same time, crypto.news has closely tracked his legal saga, from his 25‑year sentence and multibillion‑dollar forfeiture, to his push for an appeal that argues customers were ultimately made whole, and the market’s reflexive tendency to trade anything tied to his name or legacy. Readers can dig deeper into SBF’s post‑FTX legal fight and market impact in dedicated coverage on crypto.news, including features on his appeal posture, creditor recoveries, and FTT’s periodic speculative surges.

Market context: crypto shrugs and trades on

The latest flare‑up from Bankman-Fried’s account lands in a market that still treats digital assets as a pure expression of global risk appetite. Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $70,345, with a 24‑hour range roughly between $68,428 and $71,852 on about $59.3B in volume. Ethereum (ETH) and other majors continue to post heavy turnover on major exchanges as traders reposition around macro data and ETF flows, while Solana (SOL) remains a favored high‑beta proxy for speculative sentiment, with liquidity deep enough to absorb knee‑jerk reactions to headlines like SBF’s latest outburst.

In other words, even from a prison dormitory, Bankman-Fried’s words still echo across a market that has learned, too late and at enormous cost, just how dangerous unverified narratives can be when billions of dollars of other people’s money are on the line.