Cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

The North American court considers that the co-founder of FTX and who was considered a cryptocurrency prodigy Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, aged 32, was guilty of crimes of fraud and money laundering in matters related to the FTX, which was once one of the most popular platforms in the world for exchanging digital currencies.

The North American court considered that the former businessman committed several perjuries in prison and ordered the reimbursement of more than 11 billion euros (10.17 billion euros at current exchange rates), after millions of people were affected by the scheme of fraud and subsequent bankruptcy of FTX and other companies founded by Bankman-Fried.

The final decision was made by judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the month-long trial in November, and who also, in another case, supervised the cases between writer E. Jean Carroll and former US President Donald Trump.

In November, Bankman-Fried was found guilty by a New York jury on the seven counts of fraud and money laundering he was charged with.

Bankman-Fried, who at the age of 30 was already a millionaire thanks to the cryptocurrency platform FTX, addressed the court directly today to say that he regrets what happened and that there were things he should have done and things he should not have done.

He also admitted that he made “a series of bad decisions” as executive chairman of FTX and also praised former business partners, such as co-founder Gary Wang and ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, who testified against him.

Judge Kaplan said today that he has concluded that the amount of losses to Bankman-Fried’s victims is more than $550 million (462.28 million euros), with FTX indicating that it expects to settle and reimburse customers “in full.”

FTX, which was one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms in the world and was once valued at $32 billion, went bankrupt in November 2022 after many users rushed to withdraw funds in the face of reports questioning the company’s solvency.