Achi news desk-
The Manhattan court in its ruling Thursday sentenced crypto exchanger Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in federal prison for conducting fraud with his customers.
During the hearing, Judge Lewis Kaplan agreed with the prosecutors that Sam Bankman-Fried aimed to become the most influential person in the United States, making him carry out illegal financial activities.
The judge also said that there is a risk “that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it is not an insignificant risk.”
Bankman-Fried was said to be ashamed of his mistakes and sorry for what happened to customers but “never said a word of remorse for committing terrible crimes,” according to CNN.
The 32-year-old started the crypto exchange FTX in 2019, becoming CEO. As of January 2022, FTX was valued at $32 billion, with SoftBank and BlackRock among investors.
However, in November 2022, the SBF company filed for bankruptcy as people withdrew billions of dollars.
The panic was fueled by a leaked piece of information underlining financial irregularities between FTX and its other company.
The famous currency dealer joined the list of high-profile financial criminals such as Bernard Madoff, who was sentenced to 150 years for a $20 billion Ponzi scheme. It was the biggest financial fraud in history.
Another involved Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, for defrauding investors while running the blood testing company. She was sentenced last year in May.
Together, my partners “built something beautiful,” Bankman-Fried said, adding “and I threw it all away and it haunts me every day.
