The founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for fraud and conspiracy that destroyed his cryptocurrency exchange and the related hedge fund. Bankman-Fried remarked about his colleagues at the cryptocurrency trading platform: "They built something really beautiful, and I threw it all away... It haunts me every day." He stated, "It was painful to see all this unfold. Clients do not deserve this level of pain. I was the CEO of FTX, and I was responsible."
Sam Bankman-Fried faced the maximum possible sentence of 110 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines for the massive fraud conspiracy that led to the collapse of FTX and the related hedge fund, as ruled by the judge on Thursday. Judge Lewis Kaplan expanded the sentencing guidelines for Bankman-Fried after determining that he had committed perjury during his trial and intentionally obstructed justice. The judge also found on Thursday that the total fraud loss at FTX exceeded $550 million. Kaplan noted that anything beyond that is considered "just gravy," referring to the fact that any additional loss would not increase the maximum of the guidelines.
