Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced on Thursday to 25 years in prison for fraud on hundreds of thousands of customers that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, The Associated Press reported.
US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan delivered a blistering analysis of Bankman-Fried and his crimes before announcing a sentence that was half of what prosecutors sought and less than a quarter of the 105 years recommended by the court’s probation officers.
“There is absolutely no doubt that Mr. Bankman-Fried’s name right now is pretty much mud around the world,” Kaplan said.
Bahamian authorities arrested Bankman-Fried in December of 2022 at the request of the US government. He was subsequently extradited to the US.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in January to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy. He was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy.
Kaplan imposed the sentence in the same Manhattan courtroom where, four months previously, Bankman-Fried testified that he had intended to revolutionize the emerging cryptocurrency market with his innovative and altruistic ideas, not steal.
The judge said Bankman-Fried repeatedly committed perjury on the witness stand in testimony that was “often evasive, hair-splitting, dodging questions.”
Kaplan said he would advise the Federal Bureau of Prisons to send Bankman-Fried to a medium-security prison near San Francisco because his notoriety, his association with vast wealth, his autism and social awkwardness are likely to make him especially vulnerable at a high-security facility.
When he spoke, Bankman-Fried stood and apologized, saying, “A lot of people feel really let down. And they were very let down. And I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage.”