FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who was convicted of fraud and money laundering last year, appeared before a judge in New York, USA, for his sentencing hearing. Bankman-Fried's mother, Barbara Fried, and father, Allan Joseph Bankman, were also present at the hearing.

Prosecutors stated that Bankman-Fried had committed "one of the greatest financial frauds in history and likely the largest fraud of the last decade," and had used more than 8 billion dollars of customer funds for his own purposes.

Marc Mukasey, the lawyer for Bankman-Fried, who was nicknamed the "Crypto King," argued that his client had worked hard to recover customer funds after the collapse of FTX.

Given the opportunity to speak, Bankman-Fried said, "I made a series of bad decisions. There are a lot of mistakes I made," and claimed that "repayments could be made" to FTX customers.

"FLAWED AND SPECULATIVE"

Judge Lewis Kaplan stated, "The defendant's claim that FTX customers and creditors will be paid in full is misleading, logically flawed, and speculative." Judge Kaplan said it was clear that Bankman-Fried was driven by a desire to be politically influential, noting that Bankman-Fried had not expressed "a single word of remorse for the commission of terrible crimes" regarding customer losses.

Judge Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty of 7 charges including fraud and money laundering, to 25 years in prison.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on December 13, 2022, and was later released on 250 million dollars bail and placed under house arrest. Prosecutors had requested a 50-year prison sentence for Bankman-Fried.

News Source: İHA