Prosecutors seek from 40 to 50 years in prison for Sam Bankman-Fried

Legal Events

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s orchestration of one of history’s largest financial frauds in his quest to dominate the cryptocurrency world deserves a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years, federal prosecutors on Friday told a federal judge.

Prosecutors made the recommendation in papers filed in Manhattan federal court in advance of a March 28 sentencing, where a judge will also consider a 100-year prison sentence recommended by the court’s probation officers and a request by defense lawyers for leniency and a term of imprisonment not to exceed single digits.

Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November on fraud and conspiracy charges after his dramatic fall from a year earlier when he and his companies seemed to be riding a crest of success that had resulted in a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady and comedian Larry David.

Some of his biggest successes, though, resulted from stealing at least $10 billion from investors and customers between 2017 and 2022 to buy luxury real estate, make risky investments, dispense outsized charitable donations and political contributions and to buy praise from celebrities, prosecutors said.

“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 wrote.

“Having set himself on the goal of amassing endless wealth and unlimited power — to the point that he thought he might become President and the world’s first trillionaire — there was little Bankman-Fried did not do to achieve it,” prosecutors said.

They said crimes reflecting a “brazen disrespect for the rule of law” had depleted the retirement funds and nest eggs of people who could least afford to lose money, including some in war-torn or financially insecure countries, and had harmed others who sought to “break generational poverty” only to be left “devastated” and “heartbroken.”

“He knew what society deemed illegal and unethical, but disregarded that based on a pernicious megalomania guided by the defendant’s own values and sense of superiority,” prosecutors said.

Bankman-Fried was extradited to the United States in December 2022 from the Bahamas after his companies collapsed a month earlier. Originally permitted to remain at home with his parents in Palo Alto, California, he was jailed last year weeks before his trial after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan concluded that he had tried to tamper with trial witnesses.

Related listings

  • Trump arrives in federal court in Florida for classified docs case

    Trump arrives in federal court in Florida for classified docs case

    Legal Events 02/11/2024

    Former President Donald Trump arrived Monday morning at a federal courthouse in Florida for a closed hearing in his criminal case charging him with mishandling classified documents.The hearing was scheduled to discuss the procedures for the handling ...

  • Federal Judge rules California assault weapons ban unconstitutional

    Federal Judge rules California assault weapons ban unconstitutional

    Legal Events 10/20/2023

    A federal judge who previously overturned California’s three-decade-old ban on assault weapons did it again on Thursday, ruling that the state’s attempts to prohibit sales of semiautomatic guns violates the constitutional right to bear ar...

  • Tunisian court releases prominent radio director from prison

    Tunisian court releases prominent radio director from prison

    Legal Events 05/29/2023

    Tunisia’s most popular private radio station said an appeal court has allowed its director to be released on bail from prison, after more than three months of detention.Mosaique FM announced Wednesday that its director, Noureddine Boutar, was f...

Car Accident Lawyers in New Rochelle, New York

If you have gotten in a car accident, it could seriously change your life. Whether the accident was caused by the other party’s fault or a fault of your own, you’ll want to to make sure that you are ready to prepare yourself for any cases that might follow.

Immediately following any type of car accident, it is important to take certain steps to ensure that the courts will treat you with respect and fairly. First, assess your mental and physical condition. Make sure right after the accident, you document any information regarding the accident and situation, it can be of great help later on.

You’ll want to make sure that you seek professional help for any medical conditions you may be experiencing. Do not wait to seek medical attention, you’ll want to make sure that you have documented evidence of the injury that was caused by the accident. The amount of treatment is also taken into consideration in every case.