Fallen 'Crypto King' Sam Bankman-Fried gets 25 years for fraud - MyJoyOnline

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding customers and investors of his now-bankrupt firm.

But they requested at least 40 years, arguing that Bankman-Fried had committed a massive fraud, while showing "brazen disrespect" for the law.

They said that he was a non-violent, first-time offender, and pointed to mental health struggles and argued that customers were poised to recover significant sums under a plan currently working through bankruptcy court.

Former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner, now a lawyer at Rottenberg Lipman Rich, said he was "very surprised" by the ruling, noting that Bankman-Fried could potentially be released from prison in about 13 years.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Kaplan said what could amount to a life sentence was unnecessary but that Bankman-Fried must receive a punishment sufficient to prevent him from committing future crimes.

In his comments ahead of the sentencing, he stuck to his story that FTX had the holdings to repay customers at the time of its collapse and said he did not think that reasons behind customer suffering had been "properly told".

"They've been failed by more people than I can count" including himself, he said, speaking of the exchange's customers