US judge Lewis Kaplan has sentenced the man considered a ‘prodigy’ among cryptocurrencies for defrauding thousands of platform customers of 463 million euros.
The co-founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Friedhas been sentenced to 25 years in prison for scam and steal billions of dollars to customers of the cryptocurrency platform.
It was U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan who handed down the sentence in federal court in Manhattan, despite Bankman-Fried claiming he “regretted at all times what happened” over the collapse of FTX, which alleged fraud brought the light. approximately $10 billion.
The convicted man faced a maximum prison sentence of 110 years after being found guilty last year of seven crimes, including fraud and conspiracy. however, the tax application went down to the 40-50 years. Bankman-Fried, 32, initially denied knowingly committing fraud and claimed he and his cryptocurrency empire were “victims” of the 2022 market crashes.
But Judge Kaplan rejected Bankman-Fried’s arguments, saying he had no real remorse and instead focused on the seriousness of the crime. “There is a risk that this man could do something very bad in the future,” Judge Kaplan said. According to the judge, the amount of damages for the victims amounts to more than 550 million dollars (approx 463 million euros). During the trial, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of funneling billions of dollars from FTX to its sister hedge fund, Alameda Research, to spend on speculative investments, more than 300 political donations and expensive real estate assets.
Faced with market volatility, lenders started asking for their money in 2022 and Bankman-Fried used FTX customer funds to pay them back. But an avalanche of customer withdrawals culminated in the FTX bankruptcy filing in November 2022 and the resignation of Bankman-Fried as CEO.
Source: EITB
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