Sam Bankman-Fried should spend between 40 and 50 years in prison after being convicted for stealing $8bn from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, prosecutors said on Friday.
“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,” federal prosecutors in Manhattan wrote. “And even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong.”
A jury found Bankman-Fried, 32, guilty in November on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Bankman-Fried potentially faced up to 110 years in prison for his crimes, a sentence his lawyers argued last month would be “grotesque”.
Bankman-Fried’s rise and fall marked one of the largest financial fraud cases in modern history. After becoming the public face of the cryptocurrency and positioning himself as an emerging Washington powerbroker, Bankman-Fried turned into an emblem of the industry’s lack of regulations and potential for misplaced hype.
Bankman-Fried’s firm FTX was once one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, valued in 2022 at $32bn. It had burst into the mainstream through a high-profile marketing campaign that included recruiting celebrities like Larry David and Tom Brady to appear in Super Bowl commercials. Bankman-Fried, known for always sporting cargo shorts, t-shirts and a mop of messy hair, appeared at events with political bigwigs like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.
During his highly publicized trial last year, prosecutors presented him as a feckless billionaire who attempted to cover up his financial failings while siphoning off funds from investors to enrich himself. Several of his former top executives, including his on-again, off-again girlfriend Caroline Ellison, all testified against him.
“This case has always been about lying, cheating, and stealing and we have no patience for it,” prosecutors said in the trial.
Lawyers for the former billionaire told US district judge Lewis Kaplan that a five-and-a-quarter to six-and-a-half 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.
“Sam is a 31-year-old, first-time, non-violent offender, who was joined in the conduct at issue by at least four other culpable individuals, in a matter where victims are poised to recover – were always poised to recover – a hundred cents on the dollar,” Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued in a pre-sentencing filing.
Even as Bankman-Fried’s downfall and other crypto scandals drew increased scrutiny of the industry, major cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum have rallied over the past year. Bitcoin hit an all-time high this month, reaching a record price of almost $73,000.
Judge Kaplan is scheduled to sentence Bankman-Fried on March 28 in Manhattan federal court. Bankman-Fried plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.
