Crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years for multibillion-dollar FTX fraud
- US District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the sentence after rejecting Bankman-Fried’s claim that FTX customers did not actually lose money
- The sentence marked the culmination of Bankman-Fried’s plunge from a wealthy entrepreneur to the biggest trophy in a crackdown on the cryptocurrency market
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a judge on Thursday for stealing US$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 November 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 he offered an apology to his former FTX colleagues.
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FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried convicted by US court on fraud charges
The sentence marked the culmination of Bankman-Fried’s plunge from an ultra-wealthy entrepreneur and major political donor to the biggest trophy to date in a crackdown by US authorities on malfeasance in cryptocurrency markets. Bankman-Fried has vowed to appeal his conviction and sentence.