Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the foremost antagonist of the cryptocurrency sector, has confirmed his attendance at a New York Times event. The crypto community, however, is not amused.
SBF tweeted on November 24 that he would appear in person to give a speech at the New York Times BookDeal Summit on November 30.
NYT writer Andrew Ross Sorkin directs the yearly event. It looks into recent news stories about business and politics; right now, SBF is a hot issue. It would also be the FTX founder’s first appearance in public since his bankruptcy filing earlier this month.
SBF is currently located in the Bahamas, where the NYT expects he will take part in the interview.
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On November 24, Sorkin tweeted SBF’s commitment to appear, along with some of his own remarks. He said, “There are many critical issues to be raised and answered, and nothing is off limits.”
Recently, the NYT has drawn a lot of criticism for publishing what the cryptocurrency community refers to as “puff pieces” for SBF.
Last week’s publication was titled “How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Empire Collapsed.” It did not mention any problems related to the FTX collapse, poor management, or fraud. Even the newly appointed CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, left a comment on the article, asking, “Why the puff piece?”
The crypto community is furious because it seems like the media is again bowing to SBF. Since SBF quit as CEO, he has been active on Twitter, and the new CEO is not amused. According to a report, FTX attorneys said SBF’s “incessant and disruptive tweeting” was hurting their company efforts.
The founder of The Daily Gwei, Anthony Sassano, questioned how he could enter the nation without being arrested.
Vinny Lingham, the co-founder of Civic and Gyft, said SBF was probably not going to jail, adding:
“Don’t get me wrong. He absolutely should. But he won’t. He might get convicted, but he won’t serve time. He spent your billions insuring against that.”