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Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for various crimes. The collapse of FTX and Alameda Research. The former American businessman, who runs his cryptocurrency empire from the Bahamas, will spend some of his life in prison. This has just been determined by the United States federal justice system.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan held a hearing this Thursday as scheduled and announced Bankman-Fried’s sentence, which could result in up to 110 years in prison. This penalty has been in place for a quarter of a century, but it comes with a deep economic blow to the fraudster.

Convicted and with less money

Bankman-Fried came to this stage of the hearing with a rather complex perspective. Federal prosecutors likely viewed his actions as something that could be called “The biggest scam of the last 10 years”. Thereupon, a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years was requested for the crime of theft of nearly 8 billion dollars.

The bail committee recommended that the defendant be sentenced to 100 years in prison due to the charges surrounding him. The businessman’s lawyers responded by saying such recommendations were disproportionate because of Justice’s concerns that Bankman-Fried would reoffend in the future.

Bankman-Fried made a nearly 20-minute statement before hearing the verdict in the case, in which she presented her own arguments, saying “I’m sorry for what happened”. Convinced of the former crypto guru’s danger, the judge’s words did little to help.

“There is a risk that this man will do something very bad in the future,” the judge said, adding that “this is not an insignificant risk.” As we said, this sentence not only means that Bankman-Fried will remain in prison, but it also means that she will have to give up more than $11 billion in money connected to her companies that she may have access to in the future.

Pictures | FTX | Mariia Shalabaieva

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