FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to serve up to 24.25 years in prison

Exchanges • March 28, 2024, 2:08PM EDT

Published 1 minute earlier on

Quick Take

Sam Bankman-Fried received a prison sentence of 24.25 years on Thursday, which will likely be served in a lower-security prison in California’s Bay Area.

FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried was sentenced to 24.25 years in prison on Thursday, marking the conclusion of a criminal fraud trial involving the loss of $8 billion by retail investors.

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York handed down the sentence and ordered the former billionaire to pay back up to $11 billion in investor and lender losses, citing Bankman-Fried's “apparent lack of remorse” and “flexibility with the truth.” The issued prison term falls 15 years short of prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation.

“He knew it was wrong. He knew it was criminal,” Judge Kaplan said Thursday before a packed courtroom.

The crypto mogul, clad in a simple beige jumpsuit, remained stoic as he learned of his fate. Standing stiffly straight with his hands clasped together in front of him like a corpse in repose, he showed a noticeable shift in demeanor from his former kingpin persona, bowing his head and bumbling through his final comments to the court in the lead-up to the judge's ruling.

“I made selfish decisions,” Bankman-Fried said in his remarks, which revisited several of the defense's key talking points during his weeks-long criminal trial. Among those arguments was the assertion that customers' funds were lost in a “liquidity crisis” precipitated by FTX staff's mismanagement of users' accounts and the company's broader operations.

The former executive's prepared comments also included several nods to his colleagues and co-conspirators Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh.

“They built something really beautiful, and I threw all of that away," Bankman-Fried said.

Bankman-Fried was found guilty on November 2 of seven criminal counts, including two counts each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as several counts of conspiracy to commit securities and commodities fraud, among other criminal acts. The maximum prison term for those crimes is 110 years, according to a probation officer.

Judge Kaplan recommended that Bankman-Fried serve time in a medium—or low-security prison near the California Bay Area. The judge reasoned that the former FTX CEO’s social skill deficiencies and “association with vast wealth” make him a target for aggression by fellow inmates.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

About Authors

Elizabeth Napolitano is a data reporter covering business and technology news, with a focus on cryptocurrencies. Prior to joining The Block, Elizabeth reported on BigTech, AI, crypto and videogames for CBS Moneywatch. As a CoinDesk reporter, she covered DeFi, NFTs and U.S. courts. She holds an MA in Journalism from CUNY. Follow her on X: @LizKNapolitano

Zack Abrams is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. Before coming to The Block, he was the Head Writer at Coinage, a Web3 media outlet covering the biggest stories in Web3. The story he co-reported on Do Kwon won a 2022 Best in Business Journalism award from SABEW. Other projects included a deep dive into SBF's defense based on exclusive documents and unveiling the identity of the hacker behind one of 2023's biggest crypto hacks — so far. He can be reached via X @zackdabrams or email, [email protected].