(LibertySons.org) – Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency trading firm FTX, just received a 25-year sentence for gambling on company holdings and bankrupting investors. He must also forfeit $11 billion. The entrepreneur is responsible for billions in lost funds. The disgraced entrepreneur insists he still plans on paying every penny back despite a recent $874 million settlement ordering restitution to BlockFi, another company FTX had taken down with it.
The jury found 32-year-old Bankman-Fried guilty in November 2023. He had faced two counts of wire fraud and five counts of conspiracy. FTX’s customers lost a collective $8 billion due to his actions, and the company’s equity investors lost another $1.7 billion. People who lent to FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research hedge fund, lost about $1.3 billion. Some investors may never be able to recover their losses.
FTX’s problems began in November 2022, when reporting agency CoinDesk released information it had uncovered, revealing that Alameda Research had no real holdings. Instead, the company’s “assets” were composed of FTX tokens, which the company both created and controlled, meaning it had nothing if it had to liquidate. Customers and investors scrambled to pull their funds while they could, and within 10 days, the company had collapsed.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan handed down the sentence on March 28. The judge stated that the defendant’s attitude pressed him to impose the harsh penalty. Bankman-Fried had felt the need to gamble with others’ livelihoods, and the judge felt that the young man had been more concerned with the risks of getting caught versus the potential benefits of getting away with the scam.
Bankman-Fried is reportedly having a hard time adjusting to life behind bars. Metropolitan Detention Center doesn’t offer many vegan meal options, causing him to lose weight. He has also been subject to several extortion attempts. The fallen entrepreneur was worth roughly $26 billion at the height of his career.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
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