Sam Bankman-Fried should spend 40 to 50 years in prison after being convicted of stealing $8 billion from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, prosecutors said Friday.
The FTX founder was found guilty on all charges in November related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange in the first of two criminal trials against the former CEO.
A jury in a Manhattan federal court agreed with prosecutors that Bankman-Fried defrauded investors, customers and lenders during the collapse of his crypto empire.
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"Even now, Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "His life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; and courting risk and gambling repeatedly with other people's money."
A spokesman for the former billionaire, Mark Botnick, declined to comment. Bankman-Fried's lawyers told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan a 5¼- to 6½-year prison term would be appropriate. They said FTX clients would get most of their money back and that Bankman-Fried did not set out to steal.
Kaplan is scheduled to sentence Bankman-Fried March 28 in Manhattan federal court. Bankman-Fried plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried, who founded and controlled both FTX and sister hedge fund Alameda Research, of misappropriating and embezzling billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits, scheming to mislead investors and instructing other executives at his businesses to do the same.
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In the trial, he faced seven charges — two counts of wire fraud and five conspiracy counts. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 110 years behind bars.
"Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said after the verdict was announced. "The cryptocurrency industry might be new. The players, like Sam Bankman-Fried, might be new. But this kind of corruption is as old as time."
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Several members of Bankman-Fried's inner circle testified against him during the trial. The prosecution's key witnesses were Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend and the former CEO of Alameda Research, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh. The trio had all previously pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.
Reuters contributed to this report.
