Yi Fei Ke
Professor Margaryan
CRJ 102 – 110W
May 17, 2024
Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory applies to the case of Sam Bankman-Fried. Throughout Bankman-Fried’s life he was influenced by many key figures that would lead to him learning criminal behavior. Many events in Sam Bankman-Freid’s life matches with the 9 fundamental principles Differential Association Theory. Some of the individuals who could have influenced him to learn criminal behavior include his parents, ex-girlfriend, close friends, and other people who he had worked with over time.
Sam Bankman-Fried was close with his parents. The article “It’s Not Just FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried. His Parents Also Face Legal Trouble” by David Gura, information is given about Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents. His father is Joseph Bankman who is a legal scholar and psychologist. His mother, Barbara Fried, is a lawyer and professor and both of them have taught at Stanford Law School since the late 1980s. They are also both well respected and educated, however that might have influenced Sam Bankman-Fried into white-collar crime. His parents are being sued by FTX, “The civil suit against Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents alleges they helped run their son’s crypto empire, and that for their work — some official, some unofficial — they were handsomely rewarded” (Gura, 2023). One of these rewards would include buying his parents a $16.4 million property in the Bahamas, which he most likely purchased with FTX customer funds. In another similar case, after Joseph Bankman was dissatisfied with his $200,000 salary working for FTX “his son wired a $10 million cash gift to his parents, which FTX lawyers say came from Alameda Research” (Gura, 2023). Instances like this show that not only did the actions of Sam-Bankman Fried’s parents not dissuade him from white-collar crime, it seems like it was encouraged. In “The Parent Trap, Inside Sam Bankman-Fried’s Family Bubble,” Sheelah Kolhatkar writes about Sam Bankman-Fried’s relationship with his parents and their involvement in FTX. She writes about Larry Kramer, who was a former dean of Stanford Law School and what he said about Bankman-Fried’s parents. During the interview Kramer said, “Bankman and Fried ‘loved that their children had these commitments that were so idealistic and powerful'” (Kolhatkar, 2023). Sam Bankman-Fried’s was also influenced by Oxford professor Will MacAskill in a similar way. MacAskill introduced him to effective altruism which partly motived Bankman-Fried to make as much money as possible even if through illegal means. Just as stated in some of the fundamental principles of Differential Association Theory, Bankman-fried was able to learn criminal behavior and the techniques of committing crime through communication with these people. Him being in intimate personal groups with some of these people only amplified this effect.
In the future we can prevent such criminal behavior based on the Differential Association Theory. One of the key insights that this theory gives us on preventing crimes is to prevent young and impressionable people from associating with deviants and criminals. This is more complicated in Sam Bankman-Fried’s case however, since he committed white-collar crime and that his parents also contributed to him learning criminal behavior. For most cases it is very beneficial for an individual’s parents to help them or prevent them from not associating with anyone who could cause them to learn criminal behavior. This should prevent or at least reduce their likelihood of committing crimes in the future. More people also need to be more aware of this and pull themselves out of situations or groups where they can be influenced and pick up criminal behavior.
References
Gura, D. (2023, October 2). It’s not just FTX’s Sam Bankman-fried. his parents also face legal trouble. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/02/1200764160/sam-bankman-fried-sbf-parents-ftx-crypto-collapse-trial-stanford-law-school
Wagner, C. (2023, October 18). FTX customer money bought SBF’s parents a $16.4m house in the Bahamas, expert says. Blockworks. https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-customer-funds-bahamas-house
Kolhatkar, S. (2023, September 25). Inside Sam Bankman-Fried’s family bubble. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/02/inside-sam-bankman-frieds-family-bubble
