Sam Bankman Fried may struggle to stick to a vegan diet in prison

• Sam Bankman Fried could be sent to a prison with limited vegetarian options, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• At the sentencing hearing, the judge recommended that he be sent to a facility with low or medium security measures.
• The disgraced FTX founder was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday.

Sam Bankman Fried may have a hard time maintaining his vegetarian diet in prison.

The disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur could serve out his 25-year sentence at Mendota, a medium-security prison near Fresno, California, a prison consultant hired by his lawyers said.

There, he may have to choose vegetarian items on the prison commissary menu such as rice, almonds and Skittles drink mix. The Wall Street Journal reported.

A jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November of seven charges, including fraud and conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison on Thursday, recommended that he serve it in a low- or medium-security prison near his parents' home in San Francisco.

The judge said he took into account Bankman-Fried's wealth and his autism diagnosis, which could make him a prison target, in his recommendation, the newspaper reported.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons will ultimately decide where the FTX founder ends up. Joel Sickler, a federal prison consultant, told the newspaper that Bankman-Fried's safety could be at risk at a medium-security facility, where other inmates could be serving sentences for violent crimes.

According to the report, Bankman-Fried will have greater freedom of movement in a low-security prison, such as Lompoc Prison near Santa Barbara, where inmates can learn to crochet.

Either way, food is likely to be a problem. Bill Baroni, a former New Jersey state official convicted for his role in the Bridget scandal, told the newspaper that the only vegetables he ate in prison came from cans. “He's not going to just go for a salad,” Baroni said. “Maybe he should do with a lot of peanut butter.”

Bankman Fried maintains a vegetarian diet, consisting mostly of beans and lettuce, according to one of his inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where the FTX founder has been detained since August.

Carmen Simpson, a former New York police officer held in prison with Bankman-Fried, wrote: letter to Judge Kaplan to plead for leniency on behalf of Bankman-Fried, BI previously reported.

“Although twelve of Sam's fourteen weekly meals consisted of undercooked rice, a scoop of disgusting-looking beans, and week-old brown lettuce, Sam remained true to his commitment not to engage in abuse,” Simpson wrote. the animals”. .