Sam Bankman-Fried, Fallen Cryptocurrency King, Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison – Liberation

Love, betrayal, delusions of grandeur… the FTX saga finally reaches its conclusion. Sam Bankman-Fried, the darling of cryptos, was sentenced to 25 years in prison this Thursday, March 28, after pleading guilty to fraud in November after a five-week trial. New York prosecutor Damien Williams sought a 40- to 50-year prison sentence for the former cryptocurrency star, who was convicted by a Manhattan jury on seven counts against him. One of the longest sentences in the history of white-collar crime in the United States, but still far behind the 150 years in prison that businessman Bernard Madoff was sentenced to in 2009. SBF” – his nickname – has already announced that the appeal

During the hearing, the former billionaire, who appeared tattered and in a beige prison jumpsuit, apologized to his former colleagues, who had largely testified against him. “They put a lot into it, and I ruined it.”, he admitted before US District Judge Louis Kaplan, Reuters reports. Claiming to be “Haunted Every Day” Via Bankruptcy, Sam Bankman-Fried added: “I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for everything that happened every step of the way. Things I should have done and said, things I shouldn’t have..

Not really enough to mollify a judge who accused him of lying on the stand when he claimed he didn’t know about unethical links maintained by his hedge fund Alameda with his crypto platform FTX. Before announcing the sentence, he also spoke at length about the thirty-year-old’s excessive ambition as well as his lack of remorse during the affair.

“SBF” used the assets of customers of its digital currency exchange platform FTX to make risky transactions, buy real estate or make political donations through its sister company Alameda, without their consent. FTX imploded in November 2022, subject to massive withdrawal requests from panicked customers. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, nearly $9 billion was missing.

Liquidator

Within a few hours, the image of the eccentric little genius with perfect hair and eternal shorts and T-shirts was broken to give way to the sorcerer’s apprentice, the mad Bats fan. The group’s liquidators have already recovered about $6.4 billion in cash and plan to fully compensate injured customers. They are particularly benefiting from the wild appreciation of cryptocurrencies, which have recovered after a disastrous 2022 vintage marked by several bankruptcies and punctuated by the FTX scandal.

Fueled by an influx of investors and the marketing of a new investment product, the queen of digital currencies, Bitcoin, has hit a record high since early March. Faced with the threat of a much heavier sentence, lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried, who just celebrated his 32nd birthday, tried to portray “SBF” as more human than the manipulator described during his trial. “Those who know Sam know that he is selfless, selfless,” His advice was written in a document submitted to federal judge Louis Kaplan ahead of the hearing, which included dozens of letters of support from loved ones. People who knew him “Understand that his conduct was “never motivated by greed or thirst for prestige””Advocates supported, citing a deposition.

The fact that the former student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was never charged with personal enrichment and until the end most of his wealth was held in FTX shares, the s’ value has evaporated. During his trial, which lasted five weeks, “SBF” lawyers presented him as a young business manager overwhelmed by his workload and the victim of errors of judgment by his partners and employees.

In order to get a pardon from the federal magistrate, they also mentioned the fact that this former businessman had autism spectrum disorder, which makes him, according to them, “Vulnerable in the Prison Population”. Considering these elements, lawyers suggest a prison sentence of five to six-and-a-half years. Since the verdict, Sam Bankman-Fried has changed her team of attorneys and notably enlisted the services of Mark Mukasey, who is more outgoing and offensive than Mark Cohen, who was previously responsible for her defense.

“In every aspect of his activity and for every crime committed, the accused showed a clear lack of respect for the law”, responded to the services of prosecutor Williams. During the trial, Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense was undermined by the testimony of three former executives of FTX and Alameda Research, including his ex-girlfriend, who detailed the accused’s key role in the fraud. “He understood the rules, but decided they didn’t apply to him,” a “Deadly Megalomania” And “A superiority complex”.