Disgraced cryptocurrency genius Sam Bankman Freed is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after being found guilty in one of the largest financial fraud cases in history.
Bankman Freed, known by his initials SBF, was found guilty by a New York jury in November after a five-week trial investigating the former high roller's horrific fall. , U.S. prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 40 to 50 years in prison.
The government's sentencing request takes into account fraud estimated at more than $10 billion, saying Bankman Fried's seven convictions reflect the defendant's “unparalleled greed and arrogance.” , is arguing for a significant prison sentence.
Additionally, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams argued that a long sentence was necessary to “protect the public,” and characterized Bankman-Freed as a “skilled” spin doctor capable of further fraud. I attached it.
If released immediately, “there is a real possibility that he will settle down and lean into the narrative and convince others to part with their money based on lies and false promises of hope,” Williams wrote in the 113-page lawsuit. stated in the document. It also includes testimonies from dozens of victims.
Bankman Freed's lawyers called the government's proposed sentence “barbaric” and described their client as a hard-working young man motivated by philanthropy who went above and beyond. .
Their portrayal is similar to the defense's portrayal presented by the SBF at trial, but it was quickly rejected by jurors after just five hours of deliberations.
Lawyers led by Mark Mukasey said Bankman Freed, 32, will be sentenced to about six years in prison, but that the sentence “will quickly return Sam to a productive role in society.” Ta.
The final sentence will be handed down by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. Bankman Fried will have the opportunity to address the court before sentencing.
-FTX implosion-
Bankman Fried, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate who became a billionaire before he was 30, has conquered the world of cryptocurrencies at breakneck speed, building the small startup he co-founded in 2019, FTX, into a global It has grown into the second largest exchange platform.
But in November 2022, the FTX empire panicked when it learned that some of the funds stored at the company were being used in risky operations at Bankman Fried's personal hedge fund, Alameda Research. It collapsed because it could not handle the large number of withdrawal requests from customers.
During the trial, several of Bankman Fried's aides said he was key in all the decisions that led to the disappearance of $8 billion from FTX.
The group also includes Caroline Ellison, Alameda's former CEO and Bankman Freed's on-and-off girlfriend, who said Alameda received “approximately $14 billion” from FTX customers. and that Bankman Freed “instructed me to commit those crimes.” ”
Filings from the prosecution and defense paint a starkly different picture of Bankman Fried, the son of two well-regarded Stanford law professors.
“The lack of remorse is infuriating,'' Williams said, challenging the defense's image of Bankman-Freed as “selfless'' and “altruistic'' and insisting that Bankman-Freed was involved in “luxury'' real estate and society. It was pointed out that the funds had been used for donations. Interactions with political leaders, Super Bowl TV ads, and “access to celebrities.”
A defense statement said Bankman Fried was “devastated” by remorse for the FTX implosion.
～Collected funds～
Bankman Fried's lawyers also pointed to statements from FTX's current management expressing confidence that FTX's customers and creditors will recover their funds, and wrote in a prepared statement that “there will be no harm to customers, lenders, or investors.” is zero,” he said.
FTX Trading CEO John Rea issued a scathing response to the allegations, saying that continued recovery of ill-gotten gains does not make up for wrongdoing.
“The fact that what he stole…was successfully recovered through the efforts of a dedicated group of professionals does not mean that it was not stolen,” Ray wrote to the court. I mentioned it in the.
“What that means is we got some of them back.”
Dickinson Wright attorney Jacob Frenkel, who previously worked for the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the amount recovered is unlikely to have a significant impact on sentencing.
“The determining factor in sentencing is not about the return of speculative funds,” Frenkel said. “The question is, what was the fraud he committed when he was convicted?”
Frenkel said he would be “shocked” if sentenced to less than 20 years, as judges need to send a strong signal that fraud in the emerging crypto sector will be taken as seriously as in other sectors. He said he would accept it.
JMB/NRO
