Coverage of disgraced crypto honcho Sam Bankman-Fried's shocking interview under microscope

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried spoke out on Wednesday for the first since his crypto exchange crumbled in an interview that Vox described as "a mesmerizing spectacle," adding intrigue to the way news outlets cover the man who has been accused of attempting to "buy influence" with various donations to media organizations. 

Vox, one of the numerous media outlets that Bankman-Fried attempted to bestow large sums of cash, covered the interview with a piece that critics felt softened FTX founder’s swift fall from grace. The Vox story, "Sam Bankman-Fried’s first post-scandal public interview was a mesmerizing spectacle," also noted he "had been seen as a rare billionaire serious about using his wealth to improve the world following a philosophy known as effective altruism." 

Vox informed readers that Bankman-Fried is being investigated by various government agencies and at least $1 billion in FTX customer funds "appears to be missing," but also noted he was "remarkably calm," "repeatedly apologetic" and put a spotlight on the claim that he was speaking against the advice of his own lawyers. 

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Critics quickly noticed that Vox – part of a liberal media conglomerate that owns a variety of publications including New York magazine -- framed the interview as a "mesmerizing spectacle" in the headline. 

"SBF's PR effort succeeds if he can get news outlets to focus on the spectacle instead of the fraud. It's working perfectly for him so far," Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross tweeted in response to the Vox article. 

Vox noted in its coverage of the FTX debacle that Bankman-Fried’s "philanthropic family foundation, Building a Stronger Future, awarded Vox’s Future Perfect a grant for a 2023 reporting project." The project is now on pause, according to Vox. 

During the interview, Bankman-Fried rejected the notion that he was attempting to "buy influence" with various donations to media outlets. 

"I think media matters a lot and I want to support good media ventures. That was the whole thesis there," Bankman-Fried said when asked by New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin about his large donations to media outlets that have raised eyebrows in recent weeks. 

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"I don't have like governance over any of these. I wasn't looking for governance over them. I was looking to support journalists doing great work because I think what they do is really important, and I think there needs to be a critical eye on stories," Bankman-Fried continued. "Frankly, I think it's healthy for the world that there is real investigative journalism."

A spokesperson told Fox News Digital that "Vox is committed to editorial independence, and has covered the controversy surrounding FTX and its founder extensively." 

Bankman-Fried spoke to a crowd of New York Times readers who paid over $2,000 apiece for access to the one-day DealBook Summit. He was remote, beamed in from the Bahamas, and the affluent audience was criticized on social media for laughing and applauding during the interview. 

Bankman-Fried made news several times during the interview. While Vox was criticized for its framing, the left-wing outlet previously published a news-making conversation Bankman-Fried had with one of its reporters, which the disgraced crypto mogul has since claimed he believed was off-the-record. And Vox was hardly the only media organization that Bankman-Fried promised to help bankroll and other outlets have simply ignored his Wednesday night comments altogether. 

It wasn't the only interview this week Bankman-Fried granted that caused some consternation. CNN's Mary Katharine Ham knocked ABC's George Stephanopoulos' tone toward Bankman-Fried in their sit-down that aired Thursday morning.

"Media is more hostile to Musk for spending his own money than to SBF for losing a couple billion in people's life savings," she wrote. "The tone is pretty astonishing."

Bankman-Fried also made a $4 million grant to The Intercept, but the publication had only received $500,000 at the time his empire began to crumble. 

As of Thursday morning, The Intercept had not covered Bankman-Fried’s Wednesday night interview. 

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The Intercept did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

ProPublica was set to receive a massive $5 million grant to support "ongoing investigative work on pandemic preparedness and biothreats," but only received the first of three payments before it was put on hold earlier this month, according to an email ProPublica president Robin Sparkman sent to staffers that has been obtained by Fox News Digital. 

ProPublica had not covered Bankman-Fried’s Wednesday night interview by Thursday morning, either. However, ProPublica does not consider itself a daily news provider and instead focuses on long-term investigative stories. 

Bankman-Fried was also an early investor in the recently-launched outlet Semafor, co-founded by former New York Times media columnist Ben Smith. It is unknown how much money he gave to Semafor.

Semafor published an article this week headlined, "SBF says he secretly donated to Republicans as much as Democrats," but did not appear to cover his controversial remarks made at DealBook Summit. Semafor did cover Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen comparing Bankman-Fried’s ordeal to the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers at the same event. 

The outlet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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