The judge sentenced Sam  , Bankman- Fried, to 25 years in prison on Thursday for stealing$ 8 billion from FTX customers from his founding, the next significant step in the past billionaire wunderkind and megadonor to the Political Party.
After rejecting Bankman- Fried‘s say that FTX consumers did not actually gain wealth and claiming that he had been lying during his trial testimony, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the word at a Manhattan court reading. A judge found , Bankman- Fried, 32, innocent on Nov. 2 on seven fraud and conspiracy works stemming from FTX’s 2022 decline in what lawyers have called one of the biggest financial crooks in U. S. story.
Kaplan said , Bankman- Fried , had shown no grief.
” He knew it was wrong”, Kaplan said of , Bankman- Fried , before handing down the word. ” He knew it was legal. He regrets that he placed a terrible wager on the likelihood of being discovered. But he is not going to admit a point, when is his right”.
Bankman– Fried , stood with his arms clasped before him as Kaplan read the sentence. When the reading ended, members of the U.S. Marshals Service led him out of the court.
Bankman– Fried acknowledged to the determine during his 20 moments of remarks that FTX customers had suffered and apologized to his previous FTX coworkers in a grey short-sleeve jail T-shirt.
The word represented the culmination of Bankman- Fried‘s transformation from an ultra-richess businessman and big political donation to the biggest prize to date in a crackdown by U.S. authorities on illegal activity in cryptocurrency markets.  , Bankman- Fried , has vowed to appeal his conviction and sentence.
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 successfully deposits his loot in Las Vegas and uses his winnings to recoup the stolen money is not entitled to a pardon under the law.
Bankman-Fried , according to the judge, lied during his trial testimony by claiming he had no idea how his hedge fund had used customer deposits he had taken from FTX.
Federal prosecutors wanted a sentence of 40 to 50 years in prison.  , Bankman- Fried‘s defense lawyer Marc Mukasey had argued that a sentence of less than 5- 1/4 years would be appropriate.
Addressing the judge,  , Bankman- Fried , said,” Customers have been suffering…. I did n’t at all mean to minimize that. I regret saying that, but I also believe there is something that was not said in the course of this process.
Referring to his FTX colleagues,  , Bankman- Fried , told the judge,” They put a lot of themselves into it, and I threw that all away. It haunts me every day”.
Three of his former close associates testified as defense witnesses in the trial that he had instructed them to use FTX customer funds to offset losses at Alameda Research.
Massive in scale
Nicolas Roos, a prosecutor with the U. S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, told the judge,” The criminality here is massive in scale. It was pervasive in all aspects of the business”.
Mukasey aimed to distance his client from well-known fraudsters like Bernie Madoff during the hearing.
Sam, who described his client as an “awkward math nerd” who worked hard to get customers ‘ money back after FTX collapse, was not a ruthless financial serial killer who set out every morning to hurt people, according to Mukasey.
” Sam , Bankman- Fried , does n’t make decisions with malice in his heart”, Mukasey added. He “makes decisions with math in his head.”
Bankman-Fried , who denied having any intentions to defraud anyone or steal customers ‘ money, testified in his own defense to claim that he made mistakes like not putting together a risk management team.
His parents, Stanford University law professors Joseph , Bankman , and Barbara , Fried, attended the sentencing.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate,  , Bankman- Fried , rode a boom in the values of bitcoin and other digital assets to a net worth of$ 26 billion, according to Forbes magazine, before he turned 30.
Bankman– Fried  gained notoriety for his mop of unkempt curly hair and support for a movement known as effective altruism, which encourages talented young people to concentrate on earning money and disseminate it for good causes. Prior to the midterm elections in 2022, he also contributed significantly to Democratic candidates and political causes.
However, prosecutors claim that the trustworthy image he cultivated kept his years-long bribe of customers ‘ funds hidden.
Bankman– Fried has been held in custody at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center since August 2023, when Kaplan revoked his bail after discovering he likely manipulated witnesses at least twice.
