Fraudulent crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried must serve 25 years in prison

Bankman-Fried was found guilty by a jury in November of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors demanded that he be sentenced to 40 to 50 years in prison. However, his lawyers argued that a prison sentence of only a few years would be ‘appropriate’.

FTX

Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019 and quickly became one of the best-known faces in the crypto world. He made billions with FTX. But the trading platform collapsed in November 2022 when customers could no longer access their money. Later, Bankman-Fried was accused of channeling customer funds to the Alameda investment fund, of which he was also the founder.

The former CEO’s lawyer had argued that the FTX customers had not actually lost their money in the end. Sam was not a ruthless financial serial killer. According to his lawyer, the fallen crypto boss should be seen as a ‘clumsy math nerd’.

Apologies

But the judge did not want to be influenced by those arguments. He pointed out that Bankman-Fried had previously lied during his testimony and had also shown no remorse during the trial.

“He knew it was wrong,” the judge emphasized before handing down the sentence. “A thief who takes his loot to Las Vegas and successfully uses the stolen money is not entitled to a reduction in sentence by using his Las Vegas winnings to pay back what he stole.”

An ‘sorry’ from Bankman-Fried only came today, but that was too late. The former CEO had previously indicated that he planned to appeal against his conviction.

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