The court sentenced the founder of the bankrupt FTX crypto exchange Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison, NBC reported.
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Initially, the TV channel and other American media reported that the businessman was sentenced to 20 years, but soon updated the data, clarifying that he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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Bankman-Fried was found guilty by a jury of fraud, conspiracy to launder funds and other cyber fraud-related offenses last November. Based on the amount of charges he was charged, he could have faced more than 100 years in prison, but his defense asked for a sentence of 6.5 years, explaining this by Bankman-Fried’s moral principles and poor health. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, found these arguments unconvincing, but did not agree with the prosecutor’s office’s demand to limit the prison term to a period of 40-50 years.
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The judge, announcing the sentence, said that when deciding on the prison term, he took into account the fact that the defendant had obstructed justice and tried to influence witnesses in his case. The judge recommended placing the defendant in a medium-security prison and also ordered $11.02 billion to be collected from him, which will also be used to pay compensation to victims, CNN reported.
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According to the TV channel, the accused intends to challenge the verdict; Bankman-Fried’s parents have already stated that they will “continue to fight for their son.”
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In July 2023, crypto exchange FTX sued its founder Bankman-Fried and three other former executives to recover more than $1 billion it allegedly embezzled in the months leading up to the company’s collapse in November 2022.
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In 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy and announced that Bankman-Fried would be leaving her position. Bloomberg reported that FTX lost $662 million in one day under mysterious circumstances.
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Some reports claim that FTX’s financial problems are due to the exchange providing client funds to Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency hedge fund created by Bankman-Fried.
