I didn’t think it was illegal ... but I am haunted by what was lost
Jailed crypto king’s remorse over firm’s $8BILLION losses
DISGRACED former crypto billionaire sam BankmanFried has said that he is haunted every day in his first interview since being jailed last week.
Bankman-Fried, 32, was sentenced to 25 years for stealing $ 8billion (£ 6.4billion) from unsuspecting customers.
his crimes emerged with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
as he was convicted of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, the judge said Bankman-Fried’s remarks never conveyed ‘a word of remorse’.
But the former poster boy for cryptocurrency, who also used his money to gain access to celebrities, has now insisted he is ‘of course’ remorseful for his actions.
he told aBc news from his cell in the metropolitan Detention centre in new York, that what happened still ‘haunts’ him and ‘it’s most of what i think about each day’.
During his correspondence with aBc, he admitted that FTX’s insolvency was the result of ‘bad decisions’ he made in 2022. Bankman-Fried said: ‘i never thought that what i was doing was illegal. i tried to hold myself to a high standard, and i certainly didn’t meet that standard.’
he added: ‘i’m haunted, every day, by what was lost. i never intended to hurt anyone or take anyone’s money. But i was the cEo of FTX, i was responsible for what happened to the company, and when you’re responsible it doesn’t matter why it goes bad.
‘i’d give anything to be able to help repair even part of the damage. i’m doing what i can from prison, but it’s deeply frustrating not to be able to do more.’
more than a million customers face potential losses as a result of FTX’s sudden collapse in november 2022.
victims say they are still owed more than $19billion (£15.1billion) based on current crypto prices – though Bankman-Fried insisted during his sentencing
that victims can get their money. he also claimed in court that customers could have been paid back ‘long ago’ had he or another former colleague remained in post and the FTX exchange been restarted.
The judge flatly denied his assessment, saying: ‘The defendant’s assertion that FTX customers and creditors will be paid in full is misleading. it is logically flawed, it is speculative.’
Judge Lewis Kaplan recommended a medium- security jail for Bankman-Fried’s sentence and ordered him to pay $11billion (£8.76billion) for stealing $8billion from customers, $1.7billion from investors and $1.3billion from lenders.
Bankman- Fried pleaded in court for a more lenient sentence and has vowed to appeal.
‘I never intended to take money’