The co-founder and CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in the US for seven counts of conspiracy and fraud charges. Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered a 240-month sentence and a 60-month sentence to be served consecutively. Bankman-Fried’s actions led to customers losing $8 billion.
Bankman-Fried, who has been in custody since August 11, 2023, was found guilty last November on all seven counts related to fraud and money laundering. The US Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York described his actions as one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. Bankman-Fried’s scheme was designed to make him the ‘King of Crypto’.
US Attorney Damian Williams stated, “While the cryptocurrency industry might be new and the players like Sam Bankman-Fried might be new, this kind of corruption is as old as time. This case has always been about lying, cheating, and stealing, and we have no patience for it.” FTX, once the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
