Fallen crypto hero jailed for 25 years
Sam Bankman-fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a judge on Thursday for stealing $8 billion from customers of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded, the last step in the former billionaire wunderkind's dramatic downfall.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the sentence at a Manhattan court hearing after rejecting Bankman-fried's claim that FTX customers did not actually lose money and accusing him of lying during his trial testimony. A jury found Bankman-fried, 32, guilty on Nov. 2 on seven fraud and conspiracy counts stemming from FTX'S 2022 collapse in what prosecutors have called one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.
“He knew it was wrong,” Kaplan said of Bankman-fried before handing down the sentence. “He knew it was criminal. He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught. But he is not going to admit a thing, as is his right.”
Bankman-fried, wearing a beige short-sleeve jail t-shirt, acknowledged during 20 minutes of remarks to the judge that FTX customers had suffered and offered an apology to former colleagues. Kaplan said he had found that FTX customers lost $8 billion, FTX'S equity investors lost $1.7 billion, and that lenders to the Alameda Research hedge fund Bankman-fried founded lost $1.3 billion.
“The defendant's assertion that FTX customers and creditors will be paid in full is misleading, it is logically flawed, it is speculative,” Kaplan said. “A thief who takes his loot to Las Vegas and successfully bets the stolen money is not entitled to a discount on the sentence by using his Las Vegas winnings to pay back what he stole.”