Former dollar billionaire, thirty-two-year-old “cryptoboss” and one of the main faces of the cryptocurrency world – the founder of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange FTX at the time, Sam Bankman-Fried – is heading behind bars. A court in Manhattan sent him to prison for a quarter of a century for a multibillion-dollar embezzlement.
Bankman-Fried’s defense attorneys previously asked for a sentence of five to six-and-a-half years and also pleaded for leniency. Prosecutors asked for 40 to 50 years in prison, which they say is reasonable for someone who lied to investors and banks and stole billions of dollars from small investors.
“He showed no remorse, so why would any judge show any mercy?” said Sunil Kavuri, a British investor who had more than $2 million in the stock market at the time of her bankruptcy, according to the BBC.
A jury found Bankman-Fried guilty of misappropriating billions of dollars for personal use, including the acquisition of real estate and political contributions, as early as 2023. According to ČTK, he himself admitted that he made mistakes in the process and that he could not prevent the fall of FTX.
FTX was formed in 2019, its demise was caused by fake trades to artificially inflate the price of its FTT token and failure to pay out investors. Rival company Kraken said Sam Bankman-Fried “built his empire on false promises and stolen client funds”.
Tags: Cryptocurrency exchange founder BankmanFried prison years
