FTX founder sentenced to 25 years in prison for massive crypto fraud

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FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud and conspiracy that destroyed his cryptocurrency exchange and affiliated hedge funds.

“They built something really beautiful, and I threw it all away,” Bankman-Fried said of his FTX colleagues. “It bothers me every day.”

“It’s excruciating to watch this all unfold,” he said. “Customers do not deserve this level of pain.

“I was the CEO of FTX and I was in charge.”

The SBF ruled Thursday that the massive fraud conspiracy that led to the collapse of FTX and its affiliated hedge funds could carry up to 110 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Judge Lewis Kaplan increased the sentencing guidelines range for Bankman Fried after finding that he perjured himself at trial and intentionally obstructed justice.

A judge on Thursday found that total losses from fraud at FTX exceeded $550 million. Kaplan noted that any further losses would be “just gravy” and the fact that further losses would not increase the guideline limit.

However, Kaplan told FTX that he “categorically rejects the defendant’s assertion that there was no loss,” calling the claim “misleading, logically flawed, and speculative.”

After Kaplan handed down the enhanced guidelines, several of Bankman-Freed’s victims began speaking out about the impact of his crimes.

Bankman Freed, wearing a beige prison jumpsuit, looked at the victims as they spoke with the judge.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 40 to 50 years in prison for Bankman Fried. His defense team asked Kaplan to be sentenced to a much lighter sentence of five to six-and-a-half years in prison.

Kaplan presided over the trial, in which a jury found Bankman Fried, 32, guilty on seven counts and held him responsible for about $10 billion in missing customer deposits in 2022. The case was concluded in November.

The charges included wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud against FTX’s customers and lenders to sister hedge fund Alameda Research. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodity fraud against FTX investors. and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Bankman-Freed’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Freed, are in court for the sentencing hearing.