Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison

The former head of the bankrupt FTX crypto exchange, Сем Бенкман-Фрід" href="https://noworries.news/biography/sem-benkman-frid/" data-bio-id="3697">Sam Bankman-Fried, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. The former crypto billionaire was found guilty on all criminal charges brought by the prosecutor’s office, including fraud and embezzlement. The court hearing took place on March 28.

According to the judge, FTX’s clients lost $ 8 billion, investors lost another $ 1.7 billion, and creditors lost $ 1.3 billion. At least three FTX clients committed suicide. The court allowed for life imprisonment for Bankman-Fried. According to Judge Lewis Kaplan, Benkman-Fried perjured himself at least three times.

«The brazenness of Benkman-Fried's behavior is that as a master marketer, he used his skills to present his story to a huge number of journalists in the most favorable light even after his arrest. He was not going to admit to anything and defended himself in court with a single phrase: I screwed up. The court was outraged by his exceptional flexibility in dealing with the truth and his apparent lack of remorse. When he wasn’t lying outright, he was evasive, tearing his hair and wringing his hands trying to get the prosecutors to rephrase the question. I’ve been doing my job for almost 30 years and I’ve never seen such d exterity,» Lewis Kaplan summarized.

Benkman-Fried confirmed the debts of the exchange’s Alameda Research fund, but argued that FTX could have avoided bankruptcy and would have managed to cope with the problems. Alameda is a fund that had access to FTX clients' funds, and it went bankrupt along with the exchange. It was through Alameda that the FTX team used client funds for high-risk investments and other expenses, including donations to American politicians.

The prosecutor asked for 50 years in prison for Benkman-Fried, while the defense lawyers sought a maximum term of six and a half years. The defense asked to take into account his biography and life position, education, experience on Wall Street and founding trading companies, as well as the fact that «his motive was not only greed.»

At the end of January, the new FTX management finally gave up trying to restore the exchange. The affected clients of the platform are waiting for compensation for their lost funds. Earlier, the head of the interim administration of the FTX crypto exchange, John Ray, called Sam Bankman-Fried's statements about full reimbursement of funds to customers «false and reckless.»