Sam Bankman-Fried Says Diddy Is "Kind" To Fellow Inmates

Life behind bars isn't exactly a five-star resort, but according to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, one of his prison mates is making the experience less grim for the former crypto kingpin. None other than Sean "Diddy" Combs, the hip-hop mogul facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, is said to be revealing a softer side behind the walls of Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Bankman-Fried, currently doing a far more serious 25-year stretch himself for the FTX collapse, discussed in an interview with Tucker Carlson the living situation he enjoys today. And when it was asked if he was cohabiting with Diddy, the answer was just as simple but delightful: "He is, he is… and he's been kind."

It is safe to say that kindness probably isn't the first word that comes to mind when someone mentions prison interactions to most people. But Bankman-Fried, a former billionaire who is now a bank institutionalized in flipping his way to the bottom of the screen, underlined that although his contact with the Bad Boy Records founder has been restricted, Diddy's readiness to offer isn't just specific to him, it is extended to other individuals of his device, as well.

"Clearly, I've only seen one side of him, which is, you know, Diddy in jail," he added. "And, you know, he has been kind to the people in the unit. He's been kind to me."

It's a strange dynamic: two once-great giants from entirely different realms, one from the high-stakes realm of finance, the other from the peaks of music and show business, now stuck in the same grimy limbo behind rows of steel bars. Bankman-Fried described his situation as an unusual social order at the facility, where high-profile people like himself and Diddy mix with a few ex-gangsters and other inmates.

"It's a strange environment, you know," he said, looking back at where he stands now. "It's a place no one wants to be he doesn't want to be in that position; I don't want to be in that position, but it's a soul-crushing place."

And yet, in that grim reality, there are fleeting moments of unexpected camaraderie. Bankman-Fried suggested that their presence was a rare opportunity for some inmates, a surprising turn in an otherwise grim environment.

"Some of them are, I think, sort of like, 'Wow, wow, this is sort of a big opportunity,' like, you know, to meet people they're probably not going to meet anyway," he said. "Which is, it shocked me the first time I heard that … but like, boy, it's not how I think about prison."

But maybe the strangest disclosure from the interview wasn't about Diddy at all, but it was about chess. Yes, chess.

Bankman-Fried claimed that he's been thoroughly outmatched by other inmates, many of whom he said are ex-armed robbers who don't speak English but dominate the game. "That's a lesson I've learned," he said wistfully. "Quite a few of them are pretty good at chess. I lose against them all the time. I was not expecting that."

It's a strange, almost surreal view of life behind bars, where former billionaires get humbled over a chessboard, hip-hop moguls offer a helping hand, and inmates bond in less expected ways. It may not be the high-rolling lifestyle they once enjoyed, but it's their current reality.