Sam Bankman-Fried, 32, co-founder of FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for defrauding and stealing billions of dollars from clients of the cryptocurrency platform. Despite claiming to be truly remorseful for the collapse of FTX, which uncovered a fraud of about 10 billion dollars, Judge Kaplan dismissed his statement and said he was not truly remorseful and instead focused on the seriousness of the crime.
During his trial, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of diverting billions of dollars from FTX to its sister hedge fund, Alameda Research, to spend on speculative investments, political donations, and expensive real estate assets. When faced with market volatility in 2022, lenders began asking for their money back and Bankman-Fried used FTX client funds to pay them back. However, an avalanche of customer withdrawals culminated in FTX filing for bankruptcy in November 2022 and Bankman-Fried resigning as CEO.
Bankman-Fried initially denied any wrongdoing but eventually admitted guilt last year to seven crimes including fraud and conspiracy according to Bloomberg agency. He now faces up to 110 years behind bars after being convicted by Judge Kaplan.