Transcript from CNN Interview:

Justin, prosecutors pushed for 40 to 50 years. Bankman-Fried's team had argued for six and a half years, saying that would be appropriate. What does 25 years mean to someone like Bankman-Fried, and how would you advise him to approach it?

"I know it feels like a life sentence. I suspect he'll serve around 18 years in prison, which will get him out around 50 years old. Others have gotten through it. So will he. He needs a plan. He needs to memorialize his journey and ensure that his time is productive. He can complain and excuse his conduct, or he can find meaning on the inside.

You heard a statement there. He said that his useful life is probably over. What do you think about having that perspective going into this?

"That's a common refrain from people going to prison. I felt the same way before I surrendered for an 18-month federal prison sentence. And then you get there and it feels good to have clarity. At least he has a clearly defined release date. He will learn from other prisoners. As I learned from Michael Santos, who was serving a quarter century for a nonviolent drug crime, he will learn from others who have mastered the experience, who don't complain, who use their time on the inside productively to prove worthy of a second chance. Judge Kaplan admonished him. And he should take what Judge Kaplan said to heart, and he should work to create a new record. We hope more prison reform is coming, but for him to benefit from prison reform or an earlier release date, he's got to prove worthy of it. This can turn out to be a positive experience in his life, but it won't happen by accident. He's going to have to work hard on days. He would rather do anything else but work hard in federal prison."

The judge here saying he would recommend that Bankman-Fried be placed in a medium or lower security facility. What does that look like with that experience, and how do you think he's going to adjust to that from being, you know, formerly a billionaire with a life with all the bells and whistles.

"Look, going from the detention center in Brooklyn to a low-security prison, which is where I suspect he'll end up at either Lompoc or Terminal Island, will feel like Disneyland compared to that detention center. But it's an adjustment to stand for count, to be warehoused for a very long period of time, to potentially have a job that's scrubbing toilets and showers. I don't like when people feel as if they can't be useful, useful in prison. He can have a productive life there, but it's going to require him to invest the time and do the work and be deferential and humble, and recognize he's moving into an environment where people may loathe him because he was a billionaire. People may admire him, people may hate him. So he needs to study that environment, lay low, adjust, do his job, avoid the prison hustle. Because the primary goal if you go to prison is not. To make matters worse, hardly a day goes by without some prisoner getting caught with an iPhone getting transferred. And if he's lucky enough to go to a low-security prison, his goal is eventually to go from a low to a minimum security camp where I serve time, not get into trouble and get moved up to a medium.

His lawyers, as they were trying to paint a picture of him as someone with a good heart, right? Who should get a lesser sentence. They talked about how he'd been tutoring inmates while he was confined. Is that something that you would advise him to continue, and what might that help facilitate for him in prison?

"If he wants an early release, perhaps through a compassionate release of the First Step Act, he's got to become extraordinary and compelling. So, yes, rather than complain, he should teach. Our nonprofit has a course that's a First Step Act approved program in the Bureau of Prisons called Preparing for Success After Prison. He should teach it or another course, but he has experiences that other prisoners can learn from, and he should use that experience and knowledge to educate and inform and teach those who have not had the benefits that people like him and me took for granted. So absolutely, he can find meaning on the inside, educate and help other people. And I wish he had conveyed more of that to Judge Kaplan today rather than claiming it. He was selfless or not selfish. He should have talked more about the life of meaning or relevance he has found since being taken into custody last August. It was a missed opportunity. He had the wrong messaging for this judge. Most defendants have the wrong messaging in front of their sentencing judge, and in retrospect, he has regret, and it's going to take him time to overcome that regret. He wasn't prepared for today, and Judge Kaplan punished him accordingly."


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