PALO ALTO, Calif. — Amid death threats and sudden global notoriety, accused FTX scammer Sam Bankman Freed and his parents turn their luxurious Stanford home into a heavily guarded fortress. I changed.
Sources say the family paid about $10,000 a week to have a private Bay Area security firm patrol the lush, 3,000-square-foot mansion, with several armed guards on duty 24 hours a day. .
“They are nervous,” said one source. “There have been death threats. They haven’t taken a chance.”
Bankman-Fried has closed the cryptocurrency after his FTX exchange collapsed amid federal prosecutors’ investigation into allegations of illegally using investor money to support his Alameda hedge fund. confused.
After being imprisoned in the Bahamas, where he built a cryptocurrency empire, he was extradited to the United States and is currently under house arrest on $250 million bail.
This episode had a great impact on Bankman-Fried’s father, Joseph Bankman, a Stanford law professor, and his mother, Barbara Fried, a tax professional at the same university.
Sources say the parents have rarely left the house since their son’s unexpected return, relying mostly on delivered food and groceries.
Wary of prying eyes from all angles, the family expanded the fence on the property to limit exposure to adjacent student dormitories and other residences.
Sources say Bankman was the only one to break out of the hideout, trying to relieve stress with the occasional escorted jog.
Stamford officials have also taken steps to ensure security around the Bankman-Fried homestead, barricading each end of the short block and manning privately contracted guards at the gate.
The Bankman-Fried home, located in a forested and usually quiet enclave near Stanford University, has suddenly turned into a tourist attraction and an Instagram magnet.
The visitors who stare at the facility range from awe-inspiring students to irritated neighbors to rocket scientists retiring for weekend bike rides.
One young man came home with his dad last week to tell reporters that he “lost everything” at FTX and wanted a glimpse of the former hero’s current boarding house. He refused to give his name.
Another woman briefly descended on the scene and snapped a quick photo of herself holding up a sign demanding justice for those who lost money in the FTX debacle.
After securing a shot and lamenting the lack of fellow protesters, she left.
Bankman-Fried, which faces up to 115 years in prison for allegedly siphoning customers’ money for himself, is set to appear in court in New York next week.