Sam Bankman-Fried, fallen cryptocurrency star, was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for one of the worst financial frauds in recent history, after the judge found in particular that he had committed several perjuries on the stand .
He had already been found guilty by a jury in November of the seven counts brought against him during a trial at the end of which the New York prosecutor, Damian Williams, had requested between 40 and 50 years of imprisonment.
During the hearing in a New York court on Thursday, federal judge Lewis Kaplan did not mince his words, noting that the young man had not never had a word of remorse for committing a terrible crime
.
He affirmed, with supporting examples, that SBF
– his nickname – had committed at least three perjuries when he testified during his trial, as well as witness tampering. This increased the maximum possible sentence to 110 years.
Audrey Neveu’s report
For his part, the thirty-year-old – who intends to appeal – apologized, acknowledging having made a series of bad decisions
.
A lot of people feel like they’ve been let down, and we’ve let them down, I’m sorry.
said Sam Bankman-Fried. I am sorry for what happened on every level.
In addition to the 25 years of imprisonment, SBF
is subject to a sanction of 11 billion US dollars – which can be used to compensate for possible customer losses – and will have a probation period of three years after his release, according to the Department of Justice.
The bankruptcy of FTX
SBF
used, without their consent, the assets of customers of its digital currency exchange platform FTX to carry out risky transactions through its sister company Alameda, to purchase real estate or to make political donations.
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried stands before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan as he is sentenced to 25 years in prison, in Federal Court in New York, USA, on March 28, 2024, in this courtroom sketch.
Photo: Reuters / Jane Rosenberg
There are serious consequences for committing fraud against your customers and investors
commented the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, quoted in a press release on Thursday.
Subject to massive withdrawal requests from panicked customers, FTX imploded in November 2022. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, approximately US$9 billion was missing.
In a few hours, the image of the whimsical little genius, with full hair and perpetual shorts and t-shirts, collapsed, giving way to that of a sorcerer’s apprentice, a fan of crazy bets.
The group’s liquidators have already recovered approximately US$6.4 billion in cash and plan to fully reimburse injured customers.
They are benefiting in particular from the brutal appreciation of cryptocurrencies, which have recovered after a catastrophic 2022 vintage marked by several bankruptcies and punctuated by the FTX scandal.
Overwhelmed by your workload and victim of errors?
Faced with the threat of a very heavy sentence, the lawyers of Sam Bankman-Fried, who has just celebrated his 32nd birthday, sought to portray a SBF
more human than the manipulator described at his trial.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, during his arraignment and bail hearing on December 22, 2022, in federal court in Manhattan, New York. (Archive photo)
Photo: Getty Images / David Dee Delgado
Those who know Sam know that he is selfless, selfless
his advisors wrote in a document submitted to Judge Kaplan before the hearing, accompanied by dozens of letters of support from relatives.
People who knew him understand that his conduct was “never motivated by greed or a thirst for prestige”
they asserted, citing one of the testimonies in support of their request.
The fact is that the former student of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was never implicated for personal enrichment and kept, until the end, most of his fortune in FTX shares, the value of which evaporated.
During his trial, which lasted five weeks, the lawyers of SBF
presented him as a young business leader overwhelmed by his workload and victim of the errors of judgment of his partners and employees.
To obtain clemency from the federal magistrate, they also mentioned the fact that this former broker had autism spectrum disorders, which makes him, according to them, vulnerable within a prison population
.
With these elements in mind, the lawyers suggested a sentence of between a little over five and six and a half years in prison.
Three key testimonies
During the trial, Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense was weakened by the testimonies of three former FTX and Alameda executives, including his former girlfriend, who had all highlighted, in detail, the driving role of the accused in the fraud.
He understood the rules, but decided they didn’t apply to him
the prosecutor’s office insisted in a document sent to the judge, evoking a pernicious megalomania
And a superiority complex
.
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