SBF arrives at $4m family home for Christmas under house arrest

Disgraced crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried arrives back at $4m family home for a California Christmas under house arrest after being released from jail in ‘highly restrictive’ $250m bail deal

  • The one-time billionaire whose fortune and company imploded overnight last month was spotted arriving at his parents’ Bay Area home early Friday 
  • Following a bail hearing in Manhattan Thursday, SBF was told he would be permitted to spend the holidays with his family under house arrest 
  • SBF was released on a record $250 million bond on Thursday

Disgraced and indicted former FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried was seen in the early hours of Friday morning arriving at his parents’ $4 million northern California home, where he will remain under house arrest for the holidays.

Bankman-Fried was released from custody Thursday on a record $250 million bond.

Two vehicles were spotted pulling up the Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried’s house on the outskirts of Stanford University at 4.30am.

Until recently, both of SBF’s parents taught law at the university. A campus police vehicle was seen outside the house, with the area cordoned off.

Stanford security and local police have all roads in the area closed off and are checking IDs in order to drive into Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents’ home in Stanford, California

Sam Bankman-Fried is led out of an U.S. Federal Courthouse after being released on bail following an arraignment in New York on Thursday

The fallen crypto-king, 30, was extradited from the Bahamas and is facing a significant number of federal charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Altogether, the charges total a potential sentence of up to 115 years in prison.

In addition to his exchange’s meltdown, feds are alleging that SBF stole $1.8 billion of his investors’ money to fund his own life. 

SBF appeared in Manhattan federal court Thursday, where a judge signed off on the ‘highly restrictive’ bail deal allowing the one-time multi-billionaire to enter a period of house arrest with an ankle monitor 3,000 miles away.

The judge allowed the house arrest to move forward on the condition that his parents put their house up as collateral. 

Valued at $4million, SBF’s parents’ home is an unassuming five-bedroom house that the Joseph and Barbara have owned since the mid-nineties. 

It is a far cry from the $40m penthouse where the 30-year-old hunkered down in in the Bahamas, but serves as a step up from the rat-infested cell at Fox Hill Prison he was being held in until Wednesday. 

In the quiet university town, Bankman-Fried will be confined to home except for trips related to exercise, mental health, and substance abuse treatment, according to US District Judge Gabriel Gorenstein’s decree.

The judge further permitted Bankman-Fried to shop online, but limited purchases to $1,000, except for legal fees. 

Disgraced FTX-founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be spending his house arrest at this five-bedroom home in the Bay Area after being released on $250million bond Thursday


The home was once the fallen crypto king’s childhood home, and belongs to his parents, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman (outside court in Manhattan Thursday at left)

Sam Bankman-Fried is depicted in court on Thursday where he was granted $250million bail

His parents guaranteed his bail using the equity of their home, though neither they nor the other parties of significant means were required to put up the full cash amount to secure his freedom. 

Instead, they will be held liable if he fails to show up to court. SBF appeared in court shackled, wearing a dark suit and tie. 

On Thursday, he spoke only to confirm that he understood the charges and the bail agreement.

In addition to US properties, the spectacular collapse of FTX has left behind a tangled web of Bahamian real estate holdings tied to the company and its founder. It’s been revealed that they splashed out $256.3 million this year alone.

Bahamian regulators are now attempting to claw back the properties obtained with fraudulent funds, telling a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge that allowing the properties to be administered in US courts would be both administratively ineffective and illegal under Bahamian law.

A map shows some of the known Bahamas properties tied to FTX, its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and others in his inner circle. Attorneys for FTX said that the company spent $300 million buying properties in the Bahamas

Last week, Reuters reported that SBF’s parents were listed as signatories on a $16.4 million house in a gated community with beach access – described in property records as a ‘vacation home.’

Earlier this month, the tax law professors told Reuters that they had been attempting to return the deeds to the company ‘since before the bankruptcy proceedings.’ 

Their son, meanwhile, maintained in court that he has no knowledge of the property, saying Wednesday, ‘They may have stayed there while working with the company sometime over the last year.’

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