Co-founder and former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly been transferred to a low-security prison in California after doing time in a notoriously violent facility dubbed ‘Victimville.’
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ inmate registry, Bankman-Fried has recently been moved to the low-security Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island in Los Angeles. It takes around three hours to get to Terminal Island from Bankman-Fried’s previous facility in Victorville, which was notorious for its violence.
Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution has housed a number of notable inmates in the past, including music entrepreneur Mouli Cohen and former stockbroker Anthony Elgindy, both of whom were convicted of fraud as well as other charges.
According to a joint defense attorney’s website, the facility offers a law library that inmates can access if they spend up to $360 a month from a commissary account. It also provides inmates with wellness and social programs, along with courses in welding, plumbing, pipe fitting, cabinet making, baking cooking, and other occupational apprenticeships.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s recent transfer seems aligned with his lawyer’s previous efforts to get him moved to a lower-security facility compared to the South California medium-security facility. Lawyers cited Bankman-Fried’s lack of prior criminal record and his autism as reasons for a transfer.
However, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has yet to reveal the exact reason for agreeing to Sam Bankman-Fried’s transfer.
What was Sam Bankman-Fried’s previous facility like?
The former FTX CEO spent nearly two weeks in the brutal medium-security facility in Victorville, California. He was moved there after spending two weeks at an Oklahoma Transfer Center after his 18-month stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Often referred to as “Victimville” in online forums, the Victorville facility is known for its significantly higher risks of gang violence, where fights are considered commonplace and stabbings are a regular occurrence.
In fact, three prison inmates were found guilty of second-degree murder in January 2023. They had beaten another inmate to death at the facility back in 2013.
A similar incident took place in 2017, when an inmate was convicted of attempted murder for stabbing a warden. Moreover, guards have also been assaulted in separate incidents later within the same year.
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy by a Manhattan jury. His release date is listed for December 14, 2044.
Despite the sentence, Bankman-Fried’s parents are reportedly trying to secure a pardon for their son from President Donald Trump. Trump had previously pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht from his life-long prison sentence, which sparked other white-collar defendants to seek similar pardons.
