{"id":2208262,"date":"2024-03-28T12:33:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T16:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-megadonor-sam-bankman-fried-gets-25-years-in-ftx-fraud-case\/"},"modified":"2024-03-28T12:39:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T16:39:24","slug":"dem-megadonor-sam-bankman-fried-gets-25-years-in-ftx-fraud-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-megadonor-sam-bankman-fried-gets-25-years-in-ftx-fraud-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Bankman-Fried, a prominent donor, sentenced to 25 years in FTX fraud case"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdem-megadonor-sam-bankman-fried-gets-25-years-in-ftx-fraud-case%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2208262&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Sam Bankman-Fried, founder\u2064 of the bankrupt FTX \u200dexchange, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a $8 billion theft. He showed no\u200d remorse and plans to appeal. The judge\u200d found that customers and investors\u200d suffered significant losses. \u2062Bankman-Fried \u2062lied during his trial, claiming ignorance of fund misuse. Prosecutors sought 40 to 50 years, while his defense argued for less. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the\u200b bankrupt FTX exchange, has been sentenced to 25\u2063 years in prison for an $8 billion theft. Despite showing no \u2062remorse, he plans to appeal. \u2063The judge determined substantial losses for \u200dcustomers and\u2064 investors. \u200cBankman-Fried denied \u2062knowledge of fund misuse during his trial. Prosecutors pushed for a 40 to \u206350-year sentence, while \u200bhis defense \u200drequested less.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sam<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a judge on Thursday for stealing $8 billion from customers of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded, the last step in dramatic downfall of the former billionaire wunderkind and megadonor to the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the sentence at a Manhattan court hearing after rejecting<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried<\/span>&#8216;s claim that FTX customers did not actually lose money and accusing him of lying during his trial testimony. A jury found<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried<\/span>, 32, guilty on Nov. 2 on seven fraud and conspiracy counts stemming from FTX&#8217;s 2022 collapse in what prosecutors have called one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-doj-calls-crypto-crook-sbfs-scheme-one-of-biggest-financial-frauds-in-american-history\/\" title=\"WATCH: DOJ Calls Crypto Crook SBF\u2019s Scheme One of \u2018Biggest Financial Frauds in American History\u2019\">biggest financial frauds<\/a> in U.S. history.<\/p>\n<p>Kaplan said<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>had shown no remorse.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He knew it was wrong,&#8221; Kaplan said of<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>before handing down the sentence. &#8220;He knew it was criminal. He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught. But he is not going to admit a thing, as is his right.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>stood with his hands clasped before him as Kaplan read the sentence. He was led out of the courtroom by members of the U.S. Marshals Service when the hearing ended.<\/p>\n<p><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried<\/span>, wearing a beige short-sleeve jail T-shirt, acknowledged during 20 minutes of remarks to the judge that FTX customers had suffered and he offered an apology to his former FTX colleagues.<\/p>\n<p>The sentence marked the culmination of<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried<\/span>&#8216;s plunge from an ultra-wealthy entrepreneur and major political donor to the biggest trophy to date in a crackdown by U.S. authorities on malfeasance in cryptocurrency markets.<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>has vowed to appeal his conviction and sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Kaplan said he had found that FTX customers lost $8 billion, FTX&#8217;s equity investors lost $1.7 billion, and that lenders to the Alameda Research <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-markets-spooked-causing-problems-with-multiple-online-traders-and-trading-companies\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Markets Spooked Causing Problems with Multiple Online Traders and Trading Companies\">hedge fund<\/a><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>founded lost $1.3 billion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The defendant&#8217;s assertion that FTX customers and creditors will be paid in full is misleading, it is logically flawed, it is speculative,&#8221; Kaplan said. &#8220;A thief who takes his loot to Las Vegas and successfully bets the stolen money is not entitled to a discount on the sentence by using his Las Vegas winnings to pay back what he stole.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The judge also said<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>lied during his trial testimony when he said he did not know that his hedge fund had spent customer deposits taken from FTX.<\/p>\n<p>Federal prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years.<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried<\/span>&#8216;s defense lawyer Marc Mukasey had argued that a sentence of less than 5-1\/4 years would be appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing the judge,<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>said, &#8220;Customers have been suffering. &#8230; I didn&#8217;t at all mean to minimize that. I also think that&#8217;s something that was missing from what I&#8217;ve said over the course of this process, and I&#8217;m sorry for that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Referring to his FTX colleagues,<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>told the judge, &#8220;They put a lot of themselves into it, and I threw that all away. It haunts me every day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Three of his former close associates testified as prosecution witnesses at trial that he had directed them to use FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda Research.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8216;Massive in scale&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nicolas Roos, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s office in Manhattan, told the judge, &#8220;The criminality here is massive in scale. It was pervasive in all aspects of the business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>During the hearing, Mukasey sought to distance his client from notorious fraudsters like Bernie Madoff.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sam was not a ruthless financial serial killer who set out every morning to hurt people,&#8221; Mukasey said, describing his client as an &#8220;awkward math nerd&#8221; who worked hard to get customers their money back after FTX&#8217;s collapse.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sam<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>doesn&#8217;t make decisions with malice in his heart,&#8221; Mukasey added. &#8220;He makes decisions with math in his head.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>testified in his own defense that he made mistakes such as not implementing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/huge-explosion-at-chemical-plant-outside-chicago\/\" title=\"Huge Explosion At Chemical Plant Outside Chicago\">risk management team<\/a>, but denied he intended to defraud anyone or steal customers&#8217; money.<\/p>\n<p>His parents, Stanford University law professors Joseph<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman\u00a0<\/span>and Barbara<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Fried<\/span>, attended the sentencing.<\/p>\n<p>A Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate,<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">\u00a0Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>rode a boom in the values of bitcoin and other digital assets to a net worth of $26 billion, according to <em>Forbes<\/em> magazine, before he turned 30.<\/p>\n<p><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>became known for his mop of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-megadonor-sam-bankman-fried-convicted-of-multibillion-dollar-fraud\/\" title=\"Sam Bankman-Fried, a prominent megadonor, found guilty of multibillion-dollar fraud.\">unkempt curly hair<\/a> and commitment to a movement known as effective altruism, which encourages talented young people to focus on earning money and giving it away to worthy causes. He also was one of the biggest contributors to Democratic candidates and political causes ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.\t<\/p>\n<p>But prosecutors have said the responsible image he cultivated concealed his years-long embezzlement of customer funds.<\/p>\n<p><span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Bankman<\/span>&#8211;<span data-qa-component=\"highlight-text\">Fried\u00a0<\/span>has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since August 2023, when Kaplan revoked his bail after finding he likely tampered with witnesses at least twice.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, a judge sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison. The case involved a $8 billion theft from FTX customers. Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, faced his downfall. Formerly a billionaire wunderkind and Democratic Party megadonor, he received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2208263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/2023-08-22T192229Z_4_LYNXMPEJ7L0DV_RTROPTP_4_USA-BANKMANFRIED-scaled-e1692733629282.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2208262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/2023-08-22T192229Z_4_LYNXMPEJ7L0DV_RTROPTP_4_USA-BANKMANFRIED-scaled-e1692733629282.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2208262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2208263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2208262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2208262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2208262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}