Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years

It's finally over.

Gavel Strike

Disgraced crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding investors out of billions of dollars.

That's some serious time, but only roughly half of the sentence prosecutors were pushing for.

Bankman-Fried appeared uncharacteristically remorseful during today's sentencing.

"They built something really beautiful and I threw all of that away," he said of FTX, as quoted by CNBC. "It haunts me every day."

Veteran federal judge Lewis Kaplan estimated that the total loss of the fraud was over $550 million.

The sentencing bookends over a year of cringeworthy court appearances, shocking revelations, a mountain of incriminating evidence — and furious investors, who are still looking to have FTX recoup their lost funds.

Seeing Through the BS-F

Kaplan also shot back at Bankman-Fried's desperate attempts earlier this month to reduce his sentence. In a Hail Mary memo, the former FTX CEO argued that the "loss" and "harm" to his customers is "zero" — claims that were met with raised eyebrows, since the millennial's FTX crypto exchange collapsed into rubble 2022.

The judge, however, rejected "the entirety of defendant’s argument there was no loss" today, calling out SBF's claims as "misleading, logically flawed and speculative."

Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in November. At the time, he was staring down a statutory maximum of 110 years in prison. Jurors only took three hours to deliberate the decision.

Earlier this month, however, US prosecutors urged Kaplan to sentence him to between 40 and 50 years.

Kaplan has since recommended that Bankman-Fried be placed in a medium-security facility, arguing "that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it's not a trivial risk," as quoted by CNN.

Medium-security prisons often have double fences, electronic detection systems, and cell housing in the US.

But to the disgraced crypto baron's legal team, the fight isn't over just yet.

"Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him," said Bankman-Fried's lead defense attorney Mark Cohen in a statement.

Bankman-Fried is expected to appeal today's decision.

More on the saga: The New CEO of FTX Blasts Sam Bankman-Fried for Lying to Get Out of Jail