A US district judge ordered Bankman-Fried to forfeit more than $11 billion.
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in the United States.
The American Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November of billion-dollar financial crimes related to the cryptocurrency exchange FTX he founded.
Bankman-Fried co-founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in 2019 and quickly built it into the world’s second most popular digital currency exchange. It collapsed almost as quickly and in the fall of 2022 it was bankrupt.
Bankman-Fried’s prison sentence was announced on Thursday. Prosecutors are demanding an even longer sentence for him, up to 50 years.
– Tens of thousands of people and several companies on several continents fell victim to the accused over several years. He stole money from customers who entrusted their money to him. He lied to investors, he sent fake documents to lenders, he pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system, and he bribed foreign officials. Each of these crimes deserves a long sentence, prosecutors said in court.
Prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of misappropriating billions of dollars in deposits from FTX customers. Prosecutors say he used the money to support his leveraged fund and buy real estate. He also tried to influence the regulation of cryptocurrencies by giving money as campaign contributions to US politicians and paying $150 million in bribes to Chinese government officials.
A US district judge ordered Bankman-Fried to forfeit more than $11 billion. In euros, the figure is more than 10 billion. According to the AFP news agency, this is one of the biggest financial fraud cases in history.
According to the judge, Bankman-Fried does not need to be transferred to a high-security prison for the worst criminals because he is unlikely to be a physical threat to other inmates or prison staff. In addition, due to his autism and social awkwardness, Bankman-Fried would be exposed to mistreatment by other inmates.
Sources: AP, AFP, STT