Ex-CEO sentenced to 25 years in crypto fraud case
Judge cites lack of remorse after billions stolen from customers of FTX platform
NEW YORK — Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange who was convicted of stealing billions of dollars from customers, was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday, capping an extraordinary saga that upended the crypto industry and became a cautionary tale of greed and hubris.
Bankman-Fried’s sentence was shorter than the 40-50 years federal prosecutors had sought after a jury found him guilty of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering — charges that carried a maximum penalty of 110 years behind bars. But the punishment was far above the 6½ years requested by his defense lawyers.
Bankman-Fried, 32, did not visibly react as Judge Lewis A. Kaplan handed down the sentence in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. His parents, law professors Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, sat two rows from the front, staring at the floor.
“He knew it was wrong. He knew it was criminal,” Kaplan said of Bankman-Fried’s actions.
Before the sentence was delivered, Bankman-Fried, clean-shaven and wearing a loose-fitting brown jail uniform, apologized to FTX’s customers, investors and employees.
“A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down,” he said. “I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage.” He added that his decisions “haunt” him every day.
Bankman-Fried was also ordered to forfeit $11.2 billion in assets.
At the sentencing, Kaplan pointed to testimony from Bankman-Fried’s trial that showed the FTX founder’s extreme appetite for risk, saying it was his “nature” to make colossally dangerous bets. “There is a risk that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future,” he said.
Kaplan also said Bankman-Fried had lied on the witness stand and failed to take responsibility for his crimes. “He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught,” he said. “But he’s not going to admit a thing.”
Bankman-Fried, currently housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, will be sent to a low- or medium-security prison, the judge said, very likely near his parents’ home in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The sentencing signified the finale of a sweeping fraud case that exposed the rampant volatility and risk-taking across the loosely regulated world of cryptocurrencies. In November 2022, FTX imploded virtually overnight, erasing $8 billion in customer savings. At a trial last fall, he was convicted of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
His sentence ranks as one of the longest imposed on a white-collar defendant in recent years.