As police arrived at Sam Bankman-Fried's house, his mom was texting him insisting that he wear long pants to get arrested, instead of his usual cargo shorts
- Sam Bankman-Fried was arguing with his mom over texts from a bathroom when police arrived to arrest him, per Michael Lewis.
- The police initially asked FTX's in-house psychiatrist if he was Bankman-Fried.
Sam Bankman-Fried argued with his mom about his clothes as Bahamian police closed in to arrest him last December, according to Michael Lewis' biography about the FTX founder.
"Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon" provides new details about Bankman-Fried's final minutes of freedom. He has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of fraud and conspiracy, and could face over 100 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Lewis recounts how a "small crowd" of people entered FTX's $30 million penthouse on December 12, and a tall police officer asked: "Is Mr. Bankman-Fried here?"
The company's in-house psychiatrist, George Lerner, was in the living room, so the officer asked if he was Bankman-Fried.
"At first, no one could find Sam," Lewis writes.
The FTX founder was in the bathroom of Gary Wang, the FTX cofounder who had already fled the Bahamas by using a second passport provided by his lawyer, according to Lewis.
Bankman-Fried used to share a room with Caroline Ellison in the penthouse before she kicked him out, but he returned and took over Wang's old room after everyone else had left the country, per the biography.
With law enforcement in the living room, Lewis writes that Bankman-Fried was in the bathroom tapping away at his phone and arguing with his mom, Barbara Fried.
At first, she was trying to dissuade him from swearing in a congressional testimony, where Bankman-Fried planned to start by saying: "I fucked up."
Then the topic changed to his impending arrest. Fried wanted her son to wear long pants as he was taken in, but he was intent on staying in his characteristic cargo shorts.
Bankman-Fried would later appear in Bahamian court wearing a suit. He was extradited to the US nine days after his arrest.
Bankman-Fried's trial began on Tuesday, where he sported a new close-cut hairstyle. His lawyers earlier received approval to provide Bankman-Fried with business attire for the trial, including "appropriate undergarments."
Bankman-Fried's spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside US working hours.