DOJ: Sam Bankman-Fried merits a 40-to-50-year sentence

Prosecutors asked a U.S. District Judge to jail Sam Bankman-Fried for 40-50 years following his conviction last November.  

Federal prosecutors said in a Manhattan courthouse on March 15 that Sam Bankman-Fried gambled with money rightfully belonging to Alameda and FTX customers, eventually stealing over $8 billion in cash and cryptocurrencies through his digital asset firms.

Lawyers for the government further argued that the FTX founder insists on his innocence despite being found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy by a jury last year. 

Last month, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys urged U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to show leniency and sentence the fallen crypto tycoon to a maximum of six-and-a-half years in prison. His lawyers claimed he never intended to defraud Alameda and FTX customers and investors during his tenure in charge.

Bankman-Fried plans to contend his conviction and sentencing in an appeal court, while Judge Kaplan is due to sentence the former FTX CEO in a federal court on March 28.

In related news, Bankman-Fried’s parents filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the pair were involved in their son’s criminal enterprise, as Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman deny any hand in the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX.