Prosecutors seek from 40 to 50 years in prison for Sam Bankman-Fried for cryptocurrency fraud
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors on Friday asked a New York judge to sentence FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to between 40 and 50 years in prison for cryptocurrency crimes they described as a “historic fraud.”
Prosecutors made the request as they submitted their presentence recommendations to a federal judge who will sentence a man who once dazzled the cryptocurrency world with his promotional skills, including his access to famous people willing to promote his companies.
Bankman-Fried, 32, will be sentenced March 28 in Manhattan federal court for his November conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Prosecutors say he cost customers and investors in FTX and related companies at least $10 billion between 2017 and 2022.
He was extradited from the Bahamas to the United States in December 2022 after his companies went bankrupt a month earlier. He was originally allowed to stay home with his parents in Palo Alto, California, but last year he was jailed weeks before his trial after Judge Lewis A. Kaplan concluded he had tried to tamper with witnesses.
In their presentation, prosecutors described Bankman-Fried’s crimes as “one of the largest financial frauds in history, and likely the largest fraud of the past decade.”
“The defendant victimized tens of thousands of people and companies across several continents over a period of several years. He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him; he lied to investors; he sent fabricated documents to lenders; he pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system; and he bribed foreign officials. Each of these crimes is worth a long sentence,” they wrote.
They said his “illegal political donations to more than 300 politicians and political action groups, valued at more than $100 million, are believed to be the largest campaign financing in history.”
And they said his $150 million in bribes to Chinese government officials was one of the largest ever.
“Even after FTX’s bankruptcy and his subsequent arrest, Bankman-Fried evaded responsibility, shifted blame to market events and other individuals, attempted witness tampering and repeatedly lied under oath,” prosecutors said, citing his testimony during the trial.
Two weeks ago, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers attacked the probation office’s recommendation that their client serve 100 years in prison, saying a sentence of that length would be “grotesque” and “barbaric.”
They urged the judge to sentence Bankman-Fried to just a few years behind bars after calculating federal sentencing guidelines that recommended a prison term of five to six and a half years.
“Sam is not the ‘evil genius’ portrayed in the media, or the greedy villain depicted at trial,” his lawyers wrote. “Sam is a 31-year-old, first-time non-violent offender, who was joined in the conduct in question by at least four other guilty individuals, in a case where victims are ready to recover – have always been ready to recover – one hundred cents on the dollar.”