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The long-awaited sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of the defunct crypto exchange FTX, is set to take place on March 28. SBF faces the possibility of spending up to 100 years in prison or as little as five years if Judge Lewis Kaplan somehow gives in to the demands of the defendant’s lawyers.
What To Expect From The Sam Bankman-Fried Sentencing
Judge Kaplan will determine how many years Bankman-Fried will spend in prison. The FTX founder was found guilty last year of all the seven charges that were leveled against him. However, this will not be easy for the judge, who has received compelling sentencing submissions from both the defendant and the prosecution.
On the one hand, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have proposed that their client receive a sentence between 63 months (5 years) and 78 months (six and a half years). They believe this is a “just sentence” for the defendant as that is enough time to rehabilitate him and ensure that he returns promptly to society where he serves more use than in prison.
On the other hand, the prosecution has proposed that Sam Bankman-Fried get a sentence between 40 and 50 years. They argue that such a sentence will be “sufficiently severe” to deter others from committing such crimes. They also believe that this will be enough to ensure that Bankman-Fried doesn’t get the opportunity to defraud anyone again.
In the build-up to the sentencing, both parties have also tried to appeal to Judge Kaplan’s emotions. On the defendant’s part, SBF’s lawyers have filed letters from various individuals who have clamored for the Judge to temper justice with mercy. Meanwhile, the prosecution has filed victim impact statements, hoping this will again reaffirm the severity of SBF’s crimes.
FTX’s CEO Calls Bankman-Fried A Liar
FTX’s CEO, John J. Ray III, addressed a letter to the court on behalf of the creditor victims, seeking to correct “material misstatements and omissions” made by Bankman-Fried in his sentencing submission. One such misstatement was when Sam Bankman-Fried asserted that FTX was solvent when it filed for bankruptcy.
John J. Ray III stated that SBF’s claim is “categorically, callously, and demonstrably false.” He also branded claims that customers’ funds were not lost as a lie. According to him, it is through the efforts of the restructuring team that they were able to recover monies belonging to customers.
Ray’s statement undoubtedly puts a dent in the plea for leniency in Bankman-Fried’s sentencing. Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had argued that their client should be given a sentence as low as five years since the money belonging to FTX’s customers was never really missing, and they didn’t suffer any loss since they would be repaid.
Bankman-Fried’s sentencing will begin at 9:30 am ET in New York.
Featured image from Reuters, chart from Tradingview.com
