Sam Bankman-Fried, the former billionaire crypto CEO who was convicted of fraud and money laundering last year, will return to court in New York today to be sentenced for his crimes.
FTX's collapse in 2022 was a stunning fall for Bankman-Fried, who had become a billionaire by creating an exchange where people could deposit money and trade crypto. It attracted millions of customers, before rumours of financial trouble sparked a run on deposits. In November 2023, a US jury found Bankman-Fried had stolen billions in customer money from the exchange ahead of the collapse to buy property, make political donations and use for other investments.
It is now certain the 32-year-old will be going to jail; what is not known is for how long. Today they will be debating this exact question as the talk about the extent of his crimes and what punishment might fit his actions.
His legal team have called for leniency, but prosecutors are seeking 40 to 50 years in prison. The prosecution says such a sentence is warranted for someone who lied to investors and banks, and stole billions in deposits from customers. His defense team has proposed five to 6.5 years! Their counter argument is they are accusing the government of adopting a medieval view of punishment by insisting such a lengthy term behind bars for a non-violent, first-time criminal.They also state that many of those customers appear poised to recover significant sums, under a plan being developed in the separate bankruptcy case which in my opinion is lucky since that’s all based on the recent bull run.
In court filings, the defense for Bankman-Fried, who is expected to appeal his conviction, has argued that such recovery warrants a lighter sentence. I’m hoping they throw the book at him which shows bad actors that laws are upheld and anyone acting as such will have to pay the price. We live in a world where it seems that the rich and powerful can get away with whatever they want. I really hope we get justice!
I hope they throw the book and give him a few decades at least. He definitely knew what would happen and it was illegal. I doubt he would win any appeal unless there was some misconduct by the prosecutors.
25 years seems pretty good to me I'm glad they did not let him off easy.
25 years
I saw they gave him those 25 years I'm pretty satisfied with that
If he is found guilty, he will be punished severely
Yes it should be swift and severe
Severe punishment should be given because of them people commit suicide
I hope he does not kill himself I want him to do the time.
Yes
He obviously forgot to bribe the jury and the judge....
Still a chance...
25 years in club fed!
Wow, that is pretty ridiculous. I hope he gets at least 20 years. The max would be fine too though. He screwed a lot of people over. We need there to be some kind of deterrent for people to do this in the future.
Exactly we need a deterrent. I hate that people get off pretty easy for these white collar crimes. It just keeps the cycle going of you can make millions or billions and do a few years. Just look at banks JPM sends a silver trader to dial every few years but that make billions off the manipulation that one person does. They most keep doing it brocade it's the cost of doing business.
That's just nuts. I see he ended up getting 25 years. I think that's reasonable.
I think that 25 seems fitting for his crimes. I did not see if he has the chance to appeal that ruling but it's a good start!
I saw some people don't feel the 25 is enough. I think it is reasonable. Better than if he had gotten the lighter side.
That’s a 1/3 of the average persons life span so putting that into perspective makes me think it’s worth it. He got lucky with the bull market that they will be able to pay some money back.
Yeah, that is a good point. I agree with you there.
I don't see him escaping this one
Finally it now looks like the punishment will be served at the end of the day
It was quicker than I thought it was going to be