‘Crypto king’ Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison: “My life is over”

Fallen ‘crypto king’ Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a court in Manhattan on Thursday. He himself maintained that he never wanted to steal from his customers.

32-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried transferred billions in customer funds to his investment fund Alameda Research between 2019 and 2022, without informing his customers. It would amount to approximately $8 billion, part of which he would also have used to finance his expensive lifestyle. His crypto exchange FTX succumbed to a lack of liquidity at the end of 2022.

In November last year, Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud by the court. Federal prosecutor Damien Willems asked earlier this month to sentence him to fifty years in prison. According to him, that punishment was necessary to illustrate the seriousness of the crimes. According to Willems, this was “one of the largest financial frauds in American history”.

“Life is over”

Bankman-Fried admitted at trial to making mistakes in the run-up to FTX’s bankruptcy, but insists he never intended to steal from customers. “It was horrifying to see my clients suffer from the demise of the stock market. My life may be over. It’s been over for a while.”

A few years ago, the crypto exchange FTX was the largest trading platform for crypto coins in the world. As of 2021, she had an estimated $15 billion in assets. But in November last year, FTX went bankrupt after many customers suddenly tried to withdraw their money, but the platform turned out to have insufficient funds.