Prosecutors: Lock up SBF for up to 50 years

Companies • March 15, 2024, 3:20PM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

UPDATED: March 15, 2024, 3:22PM EDT

Quick Take

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is set to be sentenced on March 28, should be in prison for 40 to 50 years, according to a memo signed by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams

U.S. prosecutors are asking the courts to imprison former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for up to 50 years, according to a memo filed on Friday.

Bankman-Fried, who is set to be sentenced on March 28, should be in prison for 40 to 50 years, according to a memo signed by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York.

"With all the advantages conferred by a comfortable upbringing, an MIT education, a prestigious start to his career in finance, and a worthy idea for a startup business, Bankman-Fried could have pursued the rewarding, productive, and altruistic life he has sketched out in his sentencing submission," prosecutors said. "But instead, his life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; and courting risk and gambling repeatedly with other people’s money. And even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong."

According to a February court filing, Bankman-Fried's lawyers asked for the former executive's prison sentence to be between 63 and 78 months. Last month, Bankman-Fried's family members wrote to the court about concerns they had about their son being in prison.

Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November by a jury in New York of all seven criminal counts of defrauding the customers, lenders and investors of FTX.

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Sarah is a reporter at The Block covering policy, regulation and legal happenings. Before, Sarah was a reporter with CQ Legal writing about securities regulation, which is where she first started reporting on crypto. Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other finance-related publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri and earned a degree in print and digital journalism. Sarah is based in Washington D.C., and is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.