--- title: "Sam Bankman-Fried’s Friend Says He Was Exaggerating How Much He Slept on His Bean Bag Chair" description: "Sam Bankman-Fried's old college roommate testified that the ex-FTX CEO would only take \"occassional naps\" on his Bahamian bean bag." date: "2023-10-06" modified: "2023-10-06" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/sam-bankman-fried-exaggerating-bean-bag" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto" - "ftx" - "sam bankman-fried" - "the digest" --- # Sam Bankman-Fried’s Friend Says He Was Exaggerating How Much He Slept on His Bean Bag Chair ![Sam Bankman-Fried's old college roommate testified that the ex-FTX CEO would only take "occassional naps" on his Bahamian bean bag.]() *NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 15: FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan Federal Court after a court appearance on June 15, 2023 in New York City. A court in the Bahamas temporarily barred the country’s government from agreeing to let US prosecutors pursue part of their criminal case against Bankman-Fried this week due to them being added after his agreed extradition. The Justice Department in a filing informed Judge Lewis Kaplan that it will only try Bankman-Fried on the original eight counts mentioned in the original indictment that includes wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance fraud. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) \Image: Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images\* ## Bean Bag Bombshell There's no doubt that the mythology of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried — who's [currently on trial]() in New York City defending himself against a slew of [very serious]() criminal fraud charges — was integral to the mythology of FTX itself, the now-bankrupt crypto exchange once valued at a staggering [$32 billion](). The young crypto founder held an investor-fascinating, [*Forbes*-cover-worthy]() reputation as an unkempt wunderkind: a socially awkward, late-20-something genius who only ever wore shorts and t-shirts and had a penchant for sleeping on his office bean bag chair, all the while recruiting celebrities like [Tom Brady and Gisele ]()[Bündchen]() to promote his venture and imploring Congress to [regulate cryptocurrencies](). The alleged bean bag habit was a particular point of fascination, and was oft-referenced in support of SBF's apparent workaholism — a trait that other notable tech entrepreneurs, from Steve Jobs to Bill Gates to Elon Musk, have been said to share. Indeed, a [*Bloomberg* profile]() of Bankman-Fried, penned just months before the exchange's disastrous implosion, illustrates this sleep-by-the-desk-commitment trope in full color: *Off camera, the detritus of someone who more or less lives at work litters his desk: crumpled bills from the US and Hong Kong, nine tubes of lip balm, a stick of deodorant, a 1.5‑pound canister of sea salt labeled 'SBF's salt shaker,' and an open packet of chickpea korma that he had for lunch the day before.* *The beanbag where his assistant says he sleeps most weekdays is so close he could practically roll onto it.* In a fresh turn of betrayal, however, SBF's bean bag habit may have been an exaggeration. As [*The Verge* reported yesterday](), SBF's former FTX colleague and old college roommate, Adam Yedidia, testified that SBF would take "occasional naps" on his Bahamian bean bag, "but not with much frequency." Et tu, bean bag? ## World-Building, World-Disintegrating To be clear, Yedidia wasn't on the stand to specifically testify about bean bag sleeping arrangements. In his testimony, per the *Verge*, SBF's former friend told the court that the founder expressed a lack of confidence in FTX's health as early as late June or early July last year, several months before the firm collapsed into financial ruin. "We were bulletproof last year," SBF allegedly told Yedida as the pair played summertime "padel tennis," — no, that's [not a typo]() — "but we're not bulletproof anymore." Which, of course, is a far more *legally* serious accusation than the bean bag thing, though the sleeping arrangement allegation is fascinating all the same. After all, FTX built SBF as much as SBF built FTX. And as the genius myth of the young ex-billionaire continues to disintegrate, so too does our understanding of how the now-defunct exchange was ever worth so much in the first place. **More on FTX:** [*Months Before Collapse, FTX Employees Discovered a Mysterious Backdoor*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()