On Thursday, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year jail term for the huge fraud and conspiracy that destroyed both his cryptocurrency exchange and Alameda Research, a connected hedge fund.
Bankman-Fried received a sentence in Manhattan federal court that was much less than the 40–50 years in prison that federal prosecutors had requested. However, it was much longer than the five to six-and-a-half years that his lawyers had recommended.
Before sentencing the 32-year-old and directing him to forfeit $11 billion to the US government, Judge Lewis Kaplan said, "There is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future."
Kaplan said that he had never heard Bankman-Fried express "a word of remorse for the commission of terrible crimes."
The judge said that he had "never seen a performance" like Bankman-trial Fried's Fried's in his thirty years on the federal bench.
During prosecutors' cross-examination of Bankman-Fried, Kaplan claimed that he was being "evasive" if he was not "outright lying."
The court said, "There is no question that Mr. Bankman-Fried's name is essentially mud around the world right now."
A jury in November found Bankman-Fried guilty on seven felony charges and held him accountable for the misappropriation of about $10 billion in client funds as a result of the securities fraud conspiracy, rejecting his version of events.
According to the prosecution, Bankman-Fried oversaw a scheme to embezzle client funds for investments, political contributions to both Democrats and Republicans, his own expenses, and the repayment of loans obtained by Alameda Research.
Prior to receiving a sentence, Bankman-Fried expressed remorse while speculating that a "liquidity crisis" or "mismanagement," rather than fraud, was to blame for the billions of dollars that clients had lost.
Many individuals experience extreme disappointment. He said, "And they were very disappointed. And I apologize for it. I apologize for anything that transpired at every turn.
He said, "I think my useful life is over," donning a beige jailhouse uniform. "It ended a long time ago, before my arrest."
He spoke highly of his colleagues at FTX, a formerly $32 billion corporation, saying, "They built something really beautiful and I threw all of that away." "Every day, it haunts me."
"Watching this all unfold has been excruciating," he said to Kaplan. “Patients don’t deserve this degree of suffering. As FTX's CEO, I bore responsibility." Despite acknowledging his share of the guilt, Bankman-Fried maintained that clients would ultimately get their money back from his exchange and criticized the federal bankruptcy court for not fully compensating them.
Bankman-Fried intends to challenge both his sentence and conviction.
After entering guilty pleas to charges pertaining to FTX and Alameda Research, three other individuals—all of whom provided testimony against Bankman-Fried throughout the trial—are awaiting their own sentence.
They are FTX engineering head Nishad Singh, co-founder and chief technology officer Gary Wang, and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, who formerly dated Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried received a sentence in Manhattan federal court that was much less than the 40–50 years in prison that federal prosecutors had requested. However, it was much longer than the five to six-and-a-half years that his lawyers had recommended.
Before sentencing the 32-year-old and directing him to forfeit $11 billion to the US government, Judge Lewis Kaplan said, "There is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future."
Kaplan said that he had never heard Bankman-Fried express "a word of remorse for the commission of terrible crimes."
The judge said that he had "never seen a performance" like Bankman-trial Fried's Fried's in his thirty years on the federal bench.
During prosecutors' cross-examination of Bankman-Fried, Kaplan claimed that he was being "evasive" if he was not "outright lying."
The court said, "There is no question that Mr. Bankman-Fried's name is essentially mud around the world right now."
A jury in November found Bankman-Fried guilty on seven felony charges and held him accountable for the misappropriation of about $10 billion in client funds as a result of the securities fraud conspiracy, rejecting his version of events.
According to the prosecution, Bankman-Fried oversaw a scheme to embezzle client funds for investments, political contributions to both Democrats and Republicans, his own expenses, and the repayment of loans obtained by Alameda Research.
Prior to receiving a sentence, Bankman-Fried expressed remorse while speculating that a "liquidity crisis" or "mismanagement," rather than fraud, was to blame for the billions of dollars that clients had lost.
Many individuals experience extreme disappointment. He said, "And they were very disappointed. And I apologize for it. I apologize for anything that transpired at every turn.
He said, "I think my useful life is over," donning a beige jailhouse uniform. "It ended a long time ago, before my arrest."
He spoke highly of his colleagues at FTX, a formerly $32 billion corporation, saying, "They built something really beautiful and I threw all of that away." "Every day, it haunts me."
"Watching this all unfold has been excruciating," he said to Kaplan. “Patients don’t deserve this degree of suffering. As FTX's CEO, I bore responsibility." Despite acknowledging his share of the guilt, Bankman-Fried maintained that clients would ultimately get their money back from his exchange and criticized the federal bankruptcy court for not fully compensating them.
Bankman-Fried intends to challenge both his sentence and conviction.
After entering guilty pleas to charges pertaining to FTX and Alameda Research, three other individuals—all of whom provided testimony against Bankman-Fried throughout the trial—are awaiting their own sentence.
They are FTX engineering head Nishad Singh, co-founder and chief technology officer Gary Wang, and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, who formerly dated Bankman-Fried.
