Key points:

  • The founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from clients.
  • He was found guilty of seven counts related to fraud and conspiracy.
  • The court decided to confiscate $11 billion and distribute it among the victims.

Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison following Thursday’s trial. The court found him guilty of stealing $8 billion from clients of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, of which he was the founder and director.

The case was heard in a Manhattan court, where U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the sentence. The court rejected Bankman-Fried’s arguments that FTX’s clients suffered no actual losses and found that he committed perjury during his testimony.

On November 2, 2023, Bankman-Fried, 32, was found guilty by a jury of seven counts related to fraud and conspiracy stemming from the collapse of FTX in 2022. Prosecutors have described the case as one of the largest financial frauds in US history.

Details of the sentence

The convicted Bankman-Fried announced his intention to appeal the verdict. This event marked the end of the transformation of a once super-rich entrepreneur and major political donor into the largest trophy to date in the US authorities’ fight against malfeasance in the cryptocurrency markets.

“There are serious consequences for deceiving clients and investors,”

– commented US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“Anyone who thinks they can hide their financial crimes behind wealth and power or behind a shiny new idea that they say no one else is smart enough to understand should think twice.”

Judge Kaplan found that as a result of Bankman-Fried’s actions, FTX clients lost $8 billion, investors in FTX shares lost $1.7 billion, and creditors of the hedge fund Alameda Research, founded by him, lost $1.3 billion. The court ruled against confiscation of property amounting to $11 billion, with the subsequent distribution of confiscated assets among the victims.

Additional details of the proceedings

In his address to the judge, Bankman-Fried admitted:

“Customers are suffering… I didn’t want to downplay the seriousness of this problem. I think that’s what I failed to convey during the trial, and for that I apologize.”

Speaking about his FTX colleagues, he added:

“They put a lot of effort into this thing, and I ruined it all. This feeling haunts me every day.”

Three of Bankman-Fried’s former close associates testified as prosecution witnesses that he directed them to use FTX client funds to cover Alameda Research’s losses. All three pleaded guilty to fraud. Judge Kaplan said Bankman-Fried lied when he testified that he was unaware that Alameda Research was using customer deposits it received from FTX.