(TheConservativeTimes.org) – A judge recently sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, to twenty-five years in prison because of fraud. Prosecutors in this case have said that this is one of the biggest financial fraud cases in American History.
BankMan-Fried was accused of taking part in multiple cases of fraud related to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. On top of this, he was also convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
Judge Lewis Kaplan said that “this was a very serious crime” and he stated that along with his prison sentence, Bankman-Fried would need to pay out eleven million that the government could use to compensate victims. Prosecutors thought that he deserved over fifty years in prison but the judge thought that was too excessive.
They found that Bankman-Fried had defrauded eight million from consumers and the eleven million he has to pay is to ensure he’s unable to create another fraud scheme for a very long time.
Kaplan said in reference to Bankman-Fried, “There is a risk that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future and it’s not a trivial risk. It’s not a trivial risk at all.”
The accusations come from his cryptocurrency platform called FTX where he was accused of using consumer deposits to cover losses of his hedge fund, pay off loans, and even buy lavish real estate.
Justifying his belief of Bankman-Fried’s guilt, Kaplan stated, “Mr. Bankman-Fried knew, for a protracted period, that Alameda was spending large sums of FTX customer funds on risky investments, political contributions, Bahamas real estate, and other things in circumstances in which FTX was seriously exposed to downside market deterioration, long calls, and other risks.”
According to Attorney General Merrick Garland, “Anyone who believes they can hide their financial crimes behind wealth and power, or behind a shiny new thing they claim no one else is smart enough to understand, should think twice.”
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