The New York Times' Most Recent "Sympathy Piece" on FTX's Bankman-Fried Drawn Criticism From Community

Key Ideas:

• The New York Times' most recent so-called "sympathy" article about FTX developer Sam Bankman-Fried has received backlash from the online community, including some well-known cryptocurrency luminaries.
• Bankman-Fried was widely regarded by the neighborhood because he donated millions of dollars to local charities, churches, and governmental organizations, including the police.
• The creator of the Crypto Newsletter, Alex Valaitis, expressed disbelief that "your joke of an institution continues to try to write puff pieces on the largest fraud since Madoff," which was judged to be Bernie Madoff's fault.

The New York Times' most recent so-called "sympathy" article about FTX developer Sam Bankman-Fried has received backlash from the online community, including some well-known cryptocurrency luminaries.

In the article headlined "In the Bahamas, a Lingering Sympathy for Sam Bankman-Fried," which was published on December 26, journalist Rob Copeland cites local Bahamians who seem to have generally positive things to say about the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange.

One resident contacted for the study said it "doesn't make any sense" that Bankman-Fried was imprisoned for his alleged transgressions, while another said they "felt bad for him" and thought he had a "beautiful heart."

The town strongly applauded Bankman-Fried because, according to the tale, he donated millions of dollars to local charities, churches, and governmental organizations, including the police. The creator of FTX's ambitions to build a hotel and set up the company's headquarters there were seen favorably by the locals.

Pablo Escobar, a legendary drug lord and narcoterrorist from Columbia, invested millions of dollars in infrastructure and charitable donations in an effort to win over the local population. A self-described "crypto-degen" by the name of Cryptonator claimed that Bankman-Fried gave to the government and local charities "like Pablo Escobar."

As a result of the alleged theft of customer funds and fraud of billions of dollars done by the inventor of FTX, one person who was questioned for the report claimed to have a "bad outlook on cryptocurrencies."

One Twitter user questioned "why would you publish this," while another added, "this is embarrassing."

One user tweeted, "Gotta appreciate the NYT for double down," in reference to a Nov. 14 New York Times article that was similarly criticized as a "puff piece" by the cryptocurrency community.

One of the most egregious sentences in the report described Fried's alleged years-long lie as "troublesome" but "hardly comparable to the gang carnage" on the island of New Providence.

Olayemi Olurin, a native of the Bahamas and public defender in New York, criticized the article in a video that was uploaded on Twitter.

"How far they'll go to support this white collar criminal before they try to criminalize the black country [via gang violence] next. Get out of here, the Bahamas is not some place where there is gang violence."

The Crypto Community as a Whole Spoke Up to Express Their Disapproval of the Piece

The creator of the Crypto Newsletter, Alex Valaitis, expressed disbelief that "your joke of an institution continues to try to write puff pieces on the largest fraud since Madoff," which was judged to be Bernie Madoff's fault.

The piece, according to podcast presenter Scott Melker, was "astonishingly ludicrous and irresponsible," and he compared The New York Times to American tabloid daily The National Enquirer.

Bankman-Fried was detained on December 12 in connection with various accusations of wire fraud and money laundering. He was extradited to the United States on December 21 and is currently out on bail after his parents pledged their Palo Alto residence as collateral for the $250 million bond.