UNCHAINED: Sam Bankman-Fried Whisperer Tiffany Fong Spills Some Tea
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2023
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A pivotal figure in the Sam Bankman-Fried case discusses how she became the one-time crypto mogul’s confidante, including whether she ever had a romantic relationship with him.
Tiffany Fong has had an unusual route to crypto fame. After losing most of her life savings in the Celsius bankruptcy, she began posting on YouTube about her experiences and eventually received some leaked documents, which she shared with The New York Times and on her channel. The leaks gave her some visibility, and that’s when Sam Bankman-Fried began following her on Twitter.
Fong unexpectedly managed to carve out a relationship with the one-time crypto mogul, and after he was arrested last November, she chatted often and even met with him while he was under house arrest. From there, she became known for posting details of her conversations with Bankman-Fried and documents he shared with her, and went on to attend every day of his trial in person and do videos on them.
On this episode of Unchained, Fong shares why she thinks SBF opened up to her, whether she ever had a romantic relationship with him, her unpleasant encounter with Sam Bankman-Fried’s mother at the trial, why she doesn’t really consider herself a crypto influencer, and what her plans are now that the trial is over.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Show highlights |
- What Tiffany did before getting into crypto
- How Tiffany lost most of her life savings in the Celsius bankruptcy and how that jumpstarted her journey into the content creation space
- How did she get in touch with Sam Bankman-Fried and get him to speak with her after FTX’s collapse
- The conversations Tiffany had with SBF during his house arrest
- Tiffany's response to the rumors about a romantic relationship with SBF
- How Tiffany reacted to the DOJ reaching out to her for information before the SBF trial
- Why did she decide to go to the courtroom every day during the SBF trial
- Tiffany’s unpleasant encounter with SBF's mom, Barbara Fried
- How Tiffany feels about crypto, and why she doesn’t consider herself a "crypto influencer"
- What Tiffany’s career plans are now that the SBF trial is over
Thank you to our sponsors! Arbitrum Foundation | Popcorn Network | Phemex
Guest |
Tiffany Fong, Crypto content creator
Links |
RollingStone: The Crypto Whistleblower at the Center of the Sam Bankman-Fried Storm
-
Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Audible brings your wildest adventures to life, delivering heart-pounding thrills at the touch |
| 0:05.8 | of a button. |
| 0:07.0 | Take Richard Osmond's The Thursday Murder Club, where four retirees turned amateur sleuths |
| 0:11.8 | solve crimes in the most unexpected ways, brilliantly performed by Leslie Manville. |
| 0:17.1 | Ready to unleash your adventure aside, from pulse racing suspense to epic quests, from supernatural |
| 0:22.6 | chills to far-off romances, every story comes alive through world-class narration. |
| 0:28.5 | Explore exclusive audible originals, chart-topping new releases, and unforgettable bestsellers |
| 0:34.4 | that transport you from the very first word, because the next great |
| 0:38.2 | adventure is just a listener way. Start your free 30-day trial at audible.com slash |
| 0:43.9 | Wondery UK. That's audible.com slash Wondery UK. |
| 0:49.7 | Thanks for listening to Unchained, your no-hype resource for all things crypto, on the CoinDesk podcast network. |
| 0:56.3 | You can also listen to the episodes on the Unchained feed earlier if you subscribe there. |
| 1:01.5 | Plus, check out all our content on our website, Unchained Crypto.com. |
| 1:07.0 | Yeah, I think that we, I would say that we became friends, and we talked about more than just the case and everything. |
| 1:12.9 | We did talk quite a bit about his mental health and just, you know, things like his insecurities growing up and a bit about his family and his relationships and things like that. |
| 1:23.3 | So I think that I got to know him really well over those house arrest months. |
| 1:26.4 | And obviously, it's not a very popular thing to say to call Sam Bakeman-Pread a friend. |
| 1:33.9 | Probably won't get received too well. |
| 1:36.3 | But I would be lying if I said that I didn't consider him a friend. |
| 1:44.0 | Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained. You're a no-hype resource for all things Crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin, |
| 1:49.8 | author of The Cryptopians. I started covering crypto eight years ago, and as a senior editor of Forbes, |
| 1:55.4 | was the first mainstream media reporter to cover cryptocurrency full-time. This is November 24, 2023 episode of Unchained. Femex, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, is celebrating its fourth-year |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CoinDesk, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of CoinDesk and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.