Sam Bankman-Fried to be sentenced for multi-billion FTX fraud today
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Bankman-Fried is looking at a statutory maximum of 110 years, however, he will probably be sentenced to less as his sentencing is set to begin at 9:30 am EDT.
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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan federal court, on June 15, 2023, in New York. (AP)
The former billionaire cryptocurrency tycoon, Sam Bankman-Fried, is set to be sentenced today at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, over his conviction for stealing $8 billion from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX exchange company.
Today's hearing will highlight the peak of Bankman-Fried's downfall from an extremely wealthy cryptocurrency tycoon and huge political donor, with funds previously given to US President Joe Biden, to the US authorities' biggest win to date in a hunt for malfeasance in digital assets markets.
Bankman-Fried is looking at a statutory maximum of 110 years, however, he will probably be sentenced to less.
Prosecutors suggested a 40-50-year sentence
US Prosecutors said on March 15 that Sam Bankman-Fried deserves a 40 to 50 years prison sentence.
In their sentencing memorandum, the prosecutors wrote, "Even now, Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong."
"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," they added.
The prosecutors have set $11 billion in forfeiture, to compensate for FTX's investors and Alameda's lenders' losses.
A jury found Bankman-Fried guilty in November of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan stated that "thousands of everyday people," including residents of war-torn and unstable countries, had entrusted their funds to FTX.
Bankman-Fried's lawyer Marc Mukasey told US District Judge Lewis Kaplan that a 5-1/4 to 6-1/2 year prison term would be fit, believing that FTX clients would retrieve most of their money and that Bankman-Fried did not intend to steal.
The Spokesperson for Bankman-Fried Mark Botnick stated that Mukasey would file a response this week in response to the prosecutors' memorandum as Bankman-Fried's sentence is set for today in Manhattan Federal court and he is planning on appealing his sentence and conviction.
Arrested in 2022
In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas, FTX's base, and extradited to the US.
Since August last year, the former billionaire has been in jail at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center when Kaplan took back his bail upon discovery of his involvement in witness tampering.
