Sam Bankman-Fried deserves 40-50 years in prison for FTX fraud, prosecutors say

Source: Reuters

Sam Bankman-Fried deserves 40-50 years in prison for FTX fraud, prosecutors say

Luc Cohen
Fri, March 15, 2024 at 2:28 PM EDT·3 min read

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sam Bankman-Fried should spend between 40 and 50 years in prison after being convicted for stealing $8 billion from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, prosecutors said on Friday.

A jury found Bankman-Fried, 32, guilty in November on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said "thousands of everyday people" including residents of war-torn and unstable countries had entrusted their nest eggs to FTX.

"Even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong," prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. "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."

A spokesman for the former billionaire, Mark Botnick, declined to comment. Bankman-Fried's lawyers told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that a 5-1/4 to 6-1/2 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.

-snip-

Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-deserves-40-182843415.html