Who is Sam Bankman, the “King” who shared a cell with JOH

Since his extradition from Honduras to New York, United States in April 2022, the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, has been held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center prison “in the heart” of Manhattan.

Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted of drug trafficking on March 8, 2024, and, when he receives his sentence, will be transferred to a federal prison.

Meanwhile, he had to share a cell with other inmates who, due to the nature of the charges against him, were not there for violent crimes.

One of them, known in recent days through the release of evidence documents, was Sam Bankman-Fried, known as the “King of Cryptocurrency”.

Although it was not specified for how long or at what time, it was leaked that Hernandez and Bankman-Fried shared a cell in a New York prison.

Sam Bankman-Fried is an American entrepreneur and founder of the cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX. In November 2023, he was convicted of fraud and other financial crimes. Bankman-Fried is also the co-founder of Alameda Research. He is currently awaiting sentencing in the same jail as Hernandez.

Bankman-Fried’s net worth topped $25 billion. As of October 2022, his estimated net worth was $10.5 billion.

However, on November 8, 2022, amid FTX’s solvency crisis, his net worth was estimated to drop 94% to $991.5 million in one day, according to the Billionaires Index. Bloomberg, the largest one-day index decline in history

As of November 11, 2022, Bankman-Fried was considered to have no physical assets by that index. Before Bankman-Fried’s fortune declined in November 2022, Bankman-Fried was a major donor to the Democratic Party.

A 12-member jury convicted him of seven counts of fraud on November 2, 2023, and his sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2024.

Unlike Juan Orlando Hernandez, Sam Bankman faces up to 40 years in prison.

The former president of Honduras, on the other hand, could be sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.

The sentencing against Juan Orlando Hernandez will be known on June 26, 2024.