FTX Founder Bankman-Fried Could Face 50 Years in Prison

Crypto News – According to a memo signed by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bankman-Fried, who is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28, should serve 40 to 50 years in prison.

FTX Founder Bankman-Fried Could Face 50 Years in Prison

In a February court document, Bankman-Fried‘s attorneys requested a prison sentence of 63 to 78 months for their client. Bankman-Fried’s family petitioned the court last month to express their worries over their son’s incarceration. A New York jury returned a guilty verdict on all seven felony counts against Bankman-Fried for cheating FTX’s investors, lenders, and consumers in November.

According to prosecutors, Bankman-Fried was responsible for probably the biggest scam in the past ten years. According to the report from the prosecution, the former CEO was aware of the regulations but determined they didn’t apply to him.   

With all the advantages conferred by a comfortable upbringing, an MIT education, a prestigious start to his career in finance, and a worthy idea for a startup business, Bankman-Fried could have pursued the rewarding, productive, and altruistic life he has sketched out in his sentencing submission. But instead, his life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; and courting risk and gambling repeatedly with other people’s money. And even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong.

prosecutors

Bankman-Fried’s Defense Weakened

Bankman-Fried’s defense, on the other hand, advocates for leniency and suggests a sentence of little more than five to six years in jail. They assert that Bankman-Fried did not deliberately set out to conduct fraud and that the majority of FTX clients will get their funds back.

However, it appears that the strength of the evidence put up during the trial undermines this defense. Several of Bankman-Fried’s close associates, who have now become state witnesses, have testified in favor of the state.