The final stage of the once millionaire wunderkind’s spectacular collapse, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail by a judge on Thursday for stealing $8 billion from users of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange he established.
At a court hearing in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan imposed the sentence, dismissing Bankman-Fried’s argument that FTX consumers did not genuinely lose money and concluding that he had lied during his trial testimony.
On November 2, a jury found 32-year-old Bankman-Fried guilty of seven charges of fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of FTX in 2022, which the prosecution described as one of the largest financial frauds in American history.
Bankman-Fried, according to Kaplan, has exhibited no regret.
“Kaplan said he knew it was wrong.” “He understood it was illegal. He feels awful about the poor wager he placed on the possibility of being discovered. However, he has the liberty to refuse to acknowledge anything.”
Wearing a beige jail T-shirt, Bankman-Fried apologized to his former FTX colleagues and recognized that FTX consumers had suffered during his 20-minute statement before the judge. However, he did not confess to any criminal activity.
He has promised to challenge both his sentence and conviction.
As Kaplan read the sentence, Bankman-Fried stood with his hands clasped in front of him. After a brief conversation with his defense attorney Marc Mukasey, he was escorted by US Marshals Service agents from the courtroom.
Think twice before hiding your financial crimes behind wealth and power or behind a new and sparkling object that you think only you can truly comprehend.”
Kaplan discovered that lenders to the Alameda Research hedge fund that Bankman-Fried established lost $1.3 billion, FTX’s customers lost $8 billion, and FTX’s equity investors lost $1.7 billion.
He issued an order for the forfeiture of $11 billion and gave the government permission to return seized assets to the victims. A 40–50 year sentence was what the federal prosecution had requested. Mukasey had pleaded for a sentence of no more than five and a half years.
