On Thursday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried to 25 years of imprisonment.
The prosecutors wanted a sentence of 40 to 50 years for the disgraced Crypto King. The defense team of Bankman-Fried will appeal both the conviction and sentence.
Kaplan stated that Bankman-Fried showed no remorse.
Kaplan, before delivering the sentence, said that Bankman-Fried “knew it was wrong”. “He knew that it was illegal. He regrets having made a bad bet on the chances of being caught. He will not admit anything, which is his right.”
In the courtroom, his parents Barbara and Joseph Bankman Fried were in attendance.
Kaplan found that FTX investors lost $ 1.7 billion, FTX customers $ 8 billion, and lenders to Alameda Research, the hedge fund Bankman-Fried started, lost $ 1.3 billion.
Kaplan stated that the defendant’s claim that FTX creditors and customers will be paid fully is misleading, illogical, and speculative. “A thief that takes his loot and bets it successfully in Las Vegas is not entitled to a discount on his sentence by using the winnings from Las Vegas to pay back the money he stole.”
Bankman-Fried was found guilty of two counts of fraud by wire and five counts of conspiracy in November, following the collapse of FTX, his crypto empire, in November 2022. It has been compared with Enron. In the face of cash issues, the exchange had merged its assets with Alameda Research, a sister hedge fund. This led to a wave of customers withdrawing their funds. The next month, Bankman-Fried’s case was brought to court.
Bankman-Fried, referring to his FTX coworkers, told the judge Thursday that “They put a great deal of themselves into it and I threw all that away.” It haunts me every day.
Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced Theranos co-founder, is currently serving an 11-year sentence but could have faced up to 80 years in jail. Bernie Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years in prison and died there, received an 11-year sentence.
Bankman-Fried is expected to also be ordered to make restitution. He capitalized on the rise of Bitcoin at one time and accumulated a fortune estimated to be worth $26 billion.
Bitcoin, which made up a large part of Bankman-Fried’s net worth fell to as little as $15,000. It has since recovered and is now at a level of $70,000 or more after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a Bitcoin ETF earlier this year.
It is unclear whether or not the crypto rebound will provide restitution for his victims.
