After SBF's prison interview with Tucker Carlson was released without notice on Thursday, its crisis communications manager has resigned
On March 7, it was reported that SBF's crisis communications manager has resigned after FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) 's jailed interview with Tucker Carlson was released without notice on Thursday. Mark Botnick, who has represented SBF since November 2022 following the collapse of its cryptocurrency exchange FTX, resigned on Thursday after learning of the interview. It was SBF's second interview since breaking two years of public silence after being jailed. The interviews appear to be part of his attempt to secure a presidential pardon. In both interviews, the SBF praised President Trump, criticized the previous Biden administration, and argued that he began to take Republicans more seriously after a failed engagement with Gary Gensler, the former chairperson of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).
SBF was probably best known before his arrest as a billionaire practicing "effective altruism" who had donated huge sums of money to Democratic political figures. In the year from FTX's multibillion-dollar windfall to his trial in court, SBF gave countless media interviews and at times got himself into trouble. At one point, he even showed his ex-girlfriend's diary to a reporter and was imprisoned for his potential witness interference. Botnick has reportedly been working with SBF during this time. The PR manager was also allegedly caught off guard when SBF posted on X about the Trump administration's attempts to fire federal employees.