Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison Sex Tape
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Overview
Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison Sex Tape refers to a rumored explicit video of the Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison polycule purportedly engaging in sexual acts on camera that was threatened to be released on November 18th, 2022, by an "FTX insider" following the FTX crash a week before. The supposed insider announced the existence of the tape on a website two days prior, claiming SBF and Ellison "must be held accountable." Shortly after the announcement, a massive spike in memes about the tape and people having reactions to watching it appeared online and became a topic of discussion, particularly on Twitter.
Background
On November 8th, 2022, when news initially broke about the collapse of FTX, many online began scrambling to look up the main players involved, most notably its founder Sam Bankman-Fried and Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, who were rumored to be ex-lovers at the time. During this period, some users online began speculating that a "tape" of the two must exist, especially as details about them being in a polycule surfaced. For example, one such early tweet came from Twitter user @tmnxeq[1] on November 9th, 2022, in response to other Twitter users learning more about the situation (shown below).
![OxHamZ @OxHamz. Nov 9 SBF's dad was chief legal officer? And his ex girlfriend was the Alameda CEO? Crimes are best kept as secrets amongst family / loved ones (see Madoff) 31 1247 OxWatchmen @OxWatchmen Nov 9 Replying to @OxHamz Caroline is his ex? Lol he has pretty bad taste 2 27 tmnxeq @tmnxeq Replying to @OxWatchmen and @OxHamz rumour has it there is a tape 8:08 PM - Nov 9, 2022. TweetDeck 670 1 Retweet 1 Quote Tweet 38 Likes 21 +] : ... ⠀](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/479/498/e8a.jpg "SBF")
The rumor about the sex tape existing continued spreading in the following days, with many reporting to have seen it via a Discord group or by other means. As word spread, memes and hot takes about people who pretended to see it started to become increasingly prevalent online.
For example, a tweet sent by Twitter user @DaRealMilkBagz[2] on November 10th and another by @M4573RCH[3] on November 12th each included their own takes about seeing the video or trying to sell it as an NFT, receiving over 200 likes and 100 likes, respectively, in five days (shown below, left and right).
Developments
Sex Tape Threat by FTX Insider
On November 16th, 2022, a website called sbleaks.eth.limo then went live with a message stating that the individual, claiming to be a former "FTX insider," would release the "uncensored" version of the sex tape between SBF and Ellison online on November 18th, 2022, causing many doubters to now believe the tape was real and memes to skyrocket in usage as people began to discuss it en masse. One such example was tweeted by Twitter user @JohnWRichKid[4] on November 16th, receiving over 1,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below).
As of November 21st, the site promising the leak of the sex tape never delivered and is now gone from the NIMI web hosting service.
