“He’s in trouble”: Ex-mafioso on Sam Bankman-Fried’s prospects in court

Crypto blogger Tiffany Fong conducted an interview with former mob enforcer Gene Borrello, who was in a Brooklyn jail with former FTX head Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

I got a chance to interview Gene Borrello, a former mob enforcer who was in jail with Sam Bankman-Fried. Gene tells me SBF was on suicide watch, was extorted & did not eat or shower for several days. We also discuss how Sam spends his time in jail, bullying, sentencing & more. pic.twitter.com/nszTXVUrSQ

— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong_) November 30, 2023

According to him, initially SBF was ‘not in his element’ and was targeted for attacks due to a timid disposition and ‘the body of an 80-year-old man’. One of the inmates allegedly even tried to extort money from him for protection.

‘He wanted Bankman-Fried to feel that this place was dangerous and that he needed protection, but I advised him not to listen to those damned guys’, recalls Borrello.

Meanwhile, the former head of FTX was housed in a separate wing of the prison for the wealthy and government officials, not among the general inmate population.

Borrello described SBF as a timid man who speaks ‘with his head down and very nervously’. When asked what watch and car he had, he said he wore an Apple Watch and drove a 2020 Toyota Camry.

‘We and our friends said: What the hell did you steal the money for? To look at it?’, the former mobster recalled.

He speculated that rumours of wealth hinder Bankman-Fried from ‘fitting in in prison’ because of the threat of further extortion.

Behind bars, SBF initially did not grasp the full scale of the trouble and thought he would get off easy. However, Borrello and other inmates tried to convey the seriousness of the allegations of stealing billions of dollars, after which Bankman-Fried realised ‘how badly he had screwed up’.

‘We looked at him as if he were crazy. I tried to explain to him that he might never again see what lies beyond the bars’, added the former inmate.

Further, Borrello warned Bankman-Fried that the judge presiding over his case, Lewis Kaplan, is regarded as ‘the strictest judge in the Southern District’. The 115-year prison term looming for the former FTX head, the ex-mafiozi called ‘madness’.

He believes that for prosecutors and judges the SBF case is an opportunity to gain fame and advance in their careers, which does not play to the defendant’s advantage.

‘All that concerns them is fame. He is a fame case. So he’s in trouble’, summarized Borrello.

As reported on November 2, Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on seven counts of money laundering, fraud and conspiracy, and faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for March 28, and his lawyers are expected to file an appeal.

Earlier it was revealed that SBF is in the same cell as former President of Honduras Juan Hernández, and, in the past, a high-ranking officer of the Mexican police. In addition, he gave guidance to guards regarding cryptocurrency.