'Crypto King' Sam Bankman-Fried jailed for 25 years for stealing billions of dollars from his customers
28 March 2024, 16:14 | Updated: 28 March 2024, 16:40
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried has been jailed for 25 years after being convicted of stealing billions of dollars from his customers.
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Bankman-Fried's company, FTX, went bankrupt in November 2022 - leaving millions out of pocket and unable to withdraw any money.
It came to light that Alameda Research to access FTX customers' money and make bets without them knowing.
At Bankman-Fried's sentencing hearing, Judge Lewis Kaplan said the disgraced businessman lied on the witness stand about how his customers' money was being used.
The judge said: "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."
"There are a lot of mistakes that I made,” Bankman-Fried told the court, but insisted his company FTX had the ability to repay customers when it imploded.
Read More: 'Crypto King' Sam Bankman-Fried faces 110 years in prison after being found guilty of $8bn FTX fraud
Read More: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding cryptocurrency customers
Prosecutors argued that the businessman took more than $10bn (£7.9bn) from his customers in "one of the biggest financial frauds" in American history.
They argued for a 50-year jail sentence, while his defence argued for five.
"A lot of people feel really let down and they were very let down. I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage," Bankman-Fried said.
"Things I should have done, things I shouldn’t have."
The 'Crypto King' was bashed by the judge during his sentencing, who labelled SBF a "thief".
