Crypto exchange FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has learned his fate for defrauding investors and customers: 25 years in prison and an $11 billion forfiture.
Before his sentencing, Bankman-Fried delivered a lengthy apology, acknowledging his “selfish decisions” that haunt him “every day.”
“It's been excruciating to watch this all unfold,” he added. “Customers don't deserve this level of pain.”
“I was the CEO of FTX and I was responsible.”
Bankman-Fried had pledged to spend up to $1 billion in the 2024 presidential election cycle.
As CNBC reports:
SBF faced a maximum possible sentence of 110 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines for the massive fraud conspiracy that led to the collapse of FTX and a related hedge fund, a judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Lewis Kaplan increased the sentencing guidelines range for Bankman-Fried after finding that he had perjured himself at his trial and knowingly obstructed justice.
The judge also found Thursday that the total loss of the fraud at FTX exceeded $550 million. Anything more than that is “just gravy,” Kaplan noted, referring to the fact that any more loss would not increase the top end of the guidelines.
However, Kaplan said he “rejects the entirety of defendant's argument there was no loss” at FTX, calling that claim “misleading, logically flawed and speculative.”
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