OAN’s James Myers
11:35 a.m. – Thursday, March 28, 2024
A Manhattan judge on Thursday sentenced disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried to 25 years in prison.
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In sentencing, Judge Lewis Kaplan labeled Bankman Fried a “ruthless” fraudster obsessed with political power. He also said Bankman Fried tried to “present himself as a good guy” by supporting “proper regulation of the crypto industry,” but that it was just an “act.”
“He did it because he wanted to be a very politically influential person in this country,” Kaplan said, calling him “without remorse.”
“He knew it was wrong, he knew it was a crime. He regrets taking such a bad gamble on the possibility of being arrested,” Banksman said. He continued while Freed stood in front of him with his hands clasped tightly.
The ruling came just five months after he was found guilty of stealing more than $8 billion from customers of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Bankman Fried issued an apologetic statement in court, saying he had made many “bad” decisions, but that his decisions while running FTX were not self-serving and that he had “taken everything seriously.” I threw it away,” he said.
“At the end of the day, I betrayed everyone I care about and I betrayed everything I care about,” he said during a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
“I feel like a lot of people are really disappointed and I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for what happened every step of the way,” the fallen crypto mogul continued.
“I made a series of bad decisions, but they weren’t selfish decisions, they weren’t selfless decisions. They were wrong decisions.”
During the trial, prosecutors initially asked for a sentence of 50 years in prison, and then an additional 100 years. Meanwhile, the FTX founder’s legal team had asked for a maximum prison term of no more than six and a half years. He was convicted of seven criminal charges in November and has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn ever since.
When FTX’s value peaked at $40 billion, Bankman Freed was flying around on private jets and living a lavish lifestyle. He also funneled campaign funds to Democratic politicians who he believed could be important assets. Bankman Freed also interacted with celebrities at major sporting events.
But as FTX began to unravel, Bankman Freed was arrested in the Bahamas and charged with using FTX users’ funds to settle $8 billion in debt from failed hedge fund Alameda Research.
A jury found in November that he had looted the accounts of “tens of thousands” of people, prosecutors said.
Additionally, the crypto industry mogul was found guilty of defrauding FTX’s lenders by sending them false balance sheets and lying to the company’s investors. Prosecutors claimed he made approximately $3 billion in profits from these particular schemes.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied bail, finding that he had tampered with witnesses, including leaking ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison’s diary to journalists. In his complaint, Bankman Fried stated more than 100 times that he could not remember “details” about how he ran his own business.
Additionally, during his four-day stint on the stand, the cryptocurrency golden boy showed no signs of being sorry for losing anyone’s money during the FTX collapse.
“Bankman Freed still refuses to admit that what he did was wrong,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this month. “His life in recent years has been one of unparalleled greed and arrogance. Ambition and rationalization. And he takes risks and repeatedly gambles with other people’s money.”
Meanwhile, three of his former business partners have pleaded guilty to their own fraud charges, alleging that Bankman Freed set up secret systems to give hedge funds “backdoor” access to FTX’s funds. I betrayed him.
The Fed also asked a judge to rule that Bankman Freed must pay $11 billion in restitution, $8 billion to customers, $1.7 billion to investors, and $1.3 billion to lenders. .
Bankman Freed’s mother told the court she was concerned about her son’s prison environment.
“I am truly concerned about Sam’s life in a typical prison environment,” she wrote in court.
His lawyers also argued that his sentence should be reduced because FTX’s customers and lenders would be able to recover losses from the company’s bankruptcy filing. Bankman Freed is also charged with bribing at least $40 million to one Chinese official to help unfreeze trading accounts he owned. was never brought to trial.
The FTX founder continues to deny wrongdoing and plans to appeal the conviction.
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