‘Cryptocurrency Kingpin’ Sam Bankman-Fried Officially Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison, One of the Largest Financial Scams in US History Comes to an End
Tối ngày 28/3 (theo giờ Việt Nam), Sam Bankman-Fried has officially been sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from customers of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX that he founded. FTX was once the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange.
This sentence is lower than the proposed 40-50 years suggested by the prosecutors, but still higher than the 4-5 years claimed by Sam’s lawyers. In addition to the prison term, the judge also ordered the confiscation of over $11 billion worth of Sam’s assets. This amount will be used to repay the victims of FTX’s bankruptcy.
According to the judge, FTX customers suffered losses of $8 billion, while investors in the exchange lost $1.7 billion. Meanwhile, participants in the Alameda Research hedge fund, established by Bankman-Fried, incurred losses of $1.3 billion.
The trial was presided over by Judge Lewis Kaplan, who issued the verdict at the Manhattan District Court after dismissing Alameda Research’s claims that FTX customers did not actually lose money. The court also accused Sam Bankman-Fried of lying during his testimony.
Prior to this, the jury had found the founder of FTX guilty on November 2, 2023, of 7 counts of fraud stemming from FTX’s collapse in 2022. This is also one of the largest financial scams in US history, according to Reuters.
During the trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that Sam Bankman-Fried showed no signs of remorse. As reported by Reuters, he admitted to the judge that FTX customers had gone through a difficult period. “It’s really painful. They shouldn’t have to endure any pain,” he said.
Additionally, Sam apologized to his former colleagues at FTX. However, he did not admit to any criminal wrongdoing and stated that he would appeal the sentence.
This verdict marks the downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried, who was once an extremely wealthy entrepreneur and the “cryptocurrency kingpin.”
After the ruling, Sam left the courtroom. His lawyers did not provide any further comments.
Sam Bankman-Fried, born in 1992, founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in 2019 and became a direct competitor to Coinbase and Binance. According to court records, FTX had over one million creditors, including top technology companies such as Apple, Meta, Netflix, LinkedIn, Adobe, and AWS.