A question that has come up repeatedly in the FTX scandal has been the role of Sam Bankman-Fried's parents. Namely, how could such respectable people—Stanford law professors famous for their sense of ethics—have raised a sociopath who stole billions of dollars under the guise of altruism? As it turns out, they were Bankman-Fried's primary accomplices.
As a scorching cover story in BusinessWeek reveals, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman didn't just raise a criminal, but actively took part in running FTX and enjoying the spoils of the fraud. They regularly turned up in the company's offices and were included on important emails, and, most critically, flexed their prestige to open doors in Silicon Valley and Democratic power circles for their son. Meanwhile, these two advocates for the poor helped themselves to a $16 million luxury villa in the Bahamas and $10 million in cash—paid for by FTX customers.
