Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried had cost customers, investors and lenders over $10 billion by misappropriating billions of dollars to fuel his quest for influence and dominance in the new industry.
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Federal court on July 26, 2023, in New York. The former crypto mogul faces the potential of decades in prison when he is sentenced on Thursday for his role in the 2022 collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for trading digital currency. Mary Altaffer/Associated Press file
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy – a dramatic fall from a crest of success that included a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady, basketball star Stephen Curry and comedian Larry David.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentence in the same Manhattan courtroom where, four months ago, Bankman-Fried testified that he had intended to revolutionize the emerging cryptocurrency market with his innovative and altruistic ideas, not to steal.