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Author: Nikhilesh De, Sam Kessler, Cheyenne Ligon, CoinDesk; Compilation: White Water, Bitchain Vision
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FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday on seven different counts of fraud and conspiracy.
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Bankman-Fried is accused of mass fraud on FTX and Alameda, and the company collapsed sharply in 2022, resulting in a loss of about $800 to $11 billion in customers.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has to be jailed for 25 years for fraud and co-conspiracy plans, which eventually led to his once huge cryptocurrency exchange FTXBankruptcy.
In preparing for sentencing, Judge Lewis Kaplan said the SBF never expressed remorse for the terrible crime committed.Kaplan said that SBF’s attempt to create a positive, selfless image in the eyes of the public is at least partly “an act.”He refuted the defense’s argument that SBF will not commit crimes in the future.”Mr. SBF’s name is almost muddy all over the world now,”He is “persevere” and “a great marketer,” said the judge while explaining why the FTX CEO should be sentenced to a long prison sentence.
Judge Kaplan announced his decision after a two-hour hearing in Manhattan Court, where the attorney, SBF’s attorney, a victim, attorney speaking on behalf of other FTX victims, and SBF himselfCommented.Previously, one year after FTX filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Act, SBF was convicted on seven criminal charges in November.According to his attorney on Thursday, the former FTX CEO will appeal his conviction, a process that will not start until Kaplan makes a sentencing decision.
SBF also fined $11 billion, including a deal to confiscate assets such as the sale of private jets.
“Today’s verdict will prevent the defendant from committing fraud again and convey an important message to others who may be tempted to engage in financial crimes: Justice will be quickly obtained,” said Damian Williams, a federal prosecutor in Southern State.The consequences will be serious.” New York D.C. issued a statement on social media platform X,“The scale of his crime depends not only on the amount of the stolen money, but also on the huge harm caused to the victims., In some cases, the victims even died and their savings were spent overnight.”
“A beautiful mysterious person”
SBF’s attorney Mark Mukassi told Judge Kaplan that his client “will not make decisions with malicious intentions, he made decisions based on the mathematics in his mind,” adding,“Anyone who really knows SBF will say he is not a greedy person, a power-hungry demon…really, he is a clumsy math nerd.”
Mukassi repeatedly mentions SBF’s autism and social embarrassment, as well as his commitment to altruism, calling him “a beautiful mysterious man” with “dedicated work ethics and totally extraordinary,Amazing intelligence” and asking the judge not to destroy the golden age of his client’s life.
“Don’t deprive him of the opportunity to meet a partner and have a baby,” Mukassi said in court.
SBF’s narrative
When it’s your turnWhen SBF spoke, he was more concerned with FTX customers waiting for a refund than his “emotional life” or “assuming future kids.”
“My service life may have ended. It’s been a while now,” said SBF, who spent the past six months at the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn.
As he walked into the court Thursday — his parents and a bunch of all kinds of bystanders watched on the court’s observation deck — SBF was obviously thinner than at last year’s trial.SBF’s signature curls—cut short for October’s trial—look more fuller than before, but also more scattered.
SBF spoke for a few minutes while wearing a tan short-sleeved prison jumpsuit, and the U.S. bailiff stood behind him.SBF reiterated his long-standing claim that “there are enough assets, there are enough assets” that FTX’s creditors can be fully repaid.
SBF told the court that correcting after the company itself’s “liquidity crisis” (which he called “partially because of my behavior”) would result in “unpleasant weeks,” but insisted that “even if he tried to use it.”FTX Customer Funds Save Alameda, and FTX can survive.
He said that even if creditors do receive funds now, they will be “deprived” of the benefits gained from the wider cryptocurrency market in the past few months, echoing the FTX creditors’ statement in the Justice Department’s Victim Impact StatementWorry.
SBF向他的三位前朋友以及重要的政府证人 Nishad Singh、Gary Wang 和 Caroline Ellison 表示赞扬，并对他在 FTX 倒闭中的主导行为表示遗憾。 “我对每个阶段发生的事情感到抱歉……最终，我辜负了我关心的所有人，”SBF补充道，“我有责任。”
Customer-centric
SBF在 FTX 债权人和代表针对破产财产提起集体诉讼的律师之后发表了讲话，两人都声称FTX 破产财产来处理客户资金的方案不当。All three said that资产管理机构拟向债权人支付的款项低于当前市场价格应得的金额。
The group’s attorney, Adam Moskowitz, provided a series of support to SBF in a brief statement in court, saying the former CEO and other former FTX executives have helped his team recover some of the money lost by FTX.
“SBF和他的团队对我们很有帮助，”他说。 “我代表受害者请求你们尊敬地考虑这一点。”
SBF’s sentence
根据缓刑官员的报告，SBF面临长达一个世纪的监禁。Kaplan is not subject to this advice.SBF的辩护团队（与在为期五周的审判中代表他的律师不同的一组律师）要求不超过 6 1/2 年的刑期，而美国司法部检察官则寻求 40 至 50 年的监禁。
During the reading of the verdict, the judge almost refuted SBF and his testimony at last year’s trial.
The SBF caused “tremendous harm” to creditors, showing “exceptionally flexible to facts” during testimony and showing “obvious lack of regret”.
The judge said:“When he doesn’t lie completely, he evades, nitpicks, and avoids the problem.” He also added that he “tryed to get the prosecutor” to re-express the problem.
althoughKaplan is obviously frustrated with SBF, but he ends up believing that 50 years in prison (not to mention 100 years) is “far more than necessary”and advised him to serve his sentence in a federal prison of moderate or low safety levels.He also recommended that the prison be as close as possible to the SBF’s hometown of the San Francisco Bay Area to facilitate family visits.
Kaplan said his advice is based on the fact that SBF has no history of violence and that his notoriety, autism diagnosis, and connection to wealth will make him more vulnerable in prisons at the highest level of security.
SBF needs to be served at least 85% of the sentence, which is a requirement under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which allows for a maximum reduction of 15% of federal sentences for good performance.Of course, it depends on his appeal and whether it is successful.His team has 14 days to appeal from the date the judgment was recorded, and Judge Kaplan said it could appeal as soon as late Thursday.
The remarks of the Ministry of Justice and the defense lawyer
The U.S. Department of Justice said the SBF should be severely punished on the grounds that FTX, which once valued at $32 billion, lost almost all funds due to his malfeasance.During the trial, prosecutors said SBF stole $8 billion in client funds to fund venture capital, real estate purchases, political donations, and more.Prosecutors filed dozens of victim impact statements from former FTX clients as evidence that the scale of fraud SBF was convicted supports a tougher penalties, although that is only half the penalty he could face in theory.
on the other hand,Defense attorneys argued that SBF had no intention of cheating on clients, had shown remorse and tried to resolve the issue after FTX bankruptcy began, saying DOJ’s proposal was too extreme.Their letter of support tells more about SBF’s personal experience than FTX and its collapse, and the author points to his vegetarianism and anecdotes from his youth.Several letters said that SBF appears to be unaware of the severity of the situation due to the divergence of nerves.Former New York Police Department officer Carmine Simpson, a prisoner at a Brooklyn detention center, admitted to recruiting minors, wrote a letter saying vegan SBF was forced to eat in prisonVery bad.
