Jailed crypto billionaire con man tells victims: ‘I did nothing wrong’
Tories revolt over rough sleeping bill
PLANS to criminalise rough sleeping have been put on hold as ministers face a Tory revolt, according to reports.
More than 40 Conservative MPs are expected to vote against the Criminal Justice Bill, which would allow the police to fine or move on ‘nuisance’ rough sleepers.
Bob Blackman, MP for Harrow East, told The Times he had called for an amendment.
‘The bill as it stands is completely unacceptable because it would have the effect of criminalising people who have no choice but to sleep on the streets,’ he said.
DISGRACED crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, jailed for 25 years for fraud and money laundering, has continued to say from behind bars he did nothing wrong.
The 32-year-old took more than $8billion (£6.3billion) from hundreds of thousands of customers and used it to buy property and make political donations.
But he told ABC News: ‘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.’
The scale of his fraud unravelled as his FTX business – once the world’s biggest digital currency trading platform – collapsed in 2022.
More than 1million investors lost out and victims say they are owed $19billion (£15.1billion). The shamed financier expressed remorse for the losses from a Brooklyn prison.
‘I’m haunted, every day, by what was lost. I never intended to hurt or take anyone’s money,’ he said.
‘As 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 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.’ Bankman-Fried, once the poster boy of cryptocurrency, told a court customers could have been paid back ‘long ago’ had he remained in post.
But Judge Lewis Kaplan said: ‘The defendant’s assertion is misleading. It is logically flawed... speculative.’
He added the financier had never conveyed ‘a word of remorse for his terrible crimes’. Bankman-Fried has vowed to appeal his sentence.