Former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried has broken his silence after being sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
Former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried has broken his silence after being sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. Responding to questions from ABC News, Bankman-Fried reportedly sent an email from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held since August 2023. The former CEO was convicted on seven felony counts, leading to his sentencing on March 28 by Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In his email, Bankman-Fried claimed that he never believed his actions were illegal and expressed remorse for the losses suffered. He stated, "I'm haunted, every day, by what was lost. I never intended to hurt anyone or take anyone's money." However, many of his responses seemed to deflect responsibility for the collapse of the crypto exchange in November 2022. These statements echo his pre-sentencing justifications, where he argued that FTX would have survived and customers would have been repaid.
The email sent to ABC News may be one of Bankman-Fried's final communications before entering federal prison. Judge Kaplan recommended that he serve the remainder of his sentence at a medium or low-security facility in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to a docket entry on March 28, Bankman-Fried is expected to serve approximately 24.25 years, taking into account the time already spent behind bars.
Bankman-Fried's lawyers announced their intention to appeal the verdict on March 28, but as of now, no appeal has been filed.
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