Sam Bankman-Fried, the cofounder of the defunct crypto exchange FTX, was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for defrauding the company’s customers and investors. Before its downfall in 2022, FTX was one of the world’s platforms by buying and trading cryptocurrency.
The 32-year-old was determined to have stolen billions from FTX’s customers before its demise. Speaking in court, he apologized, saying that he knows “a lot of people feel really let down.”
Judge Lewis Kaplan was harsh toward Bankman-Fried in court on Thursday, saying “He knew it was wrong. He knew it was criminal.” However, the 25-year sentence is much less than the 100 years that he could have gotten.
Bankman-Fried was also convicted last year in New York of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The trial explained how he took more than $8 billion from the company’s customers, using it to make investments, buy property and make political donations.
