Author: Turner Wright, CoinTelegraph; Compiler: Bai Shui, Jinse Finance
On March 28, former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried will face a judge to find out whether his sentence in federal prison is over or just beginning after he was convicted on seven felony charges.
Judge Lewis Kaplan will hear from prosecutors and SBF attorneys in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in what will be the former FTX CEO's final in-person appearance as part of his criminal case. The sentencing hearing will likely conclude the case, which began with the collapse of FTX in November 2022 and ended with SBF’s arrest, extradition, trial and conviction.
Source: Will Robbins
In November 2023, a jury found SBF guilty of wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering. The former CEO's attorneys were the first to make a sentencing recommendation, recommending that SBF be sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for his actions that caused FTX investors to lose millions of dollars.
The seven felony counts carry a maximum prison term of 110 years. Prosecutors recommended SBF serve 40 to 50 years in prison to "reflect the seriousness of the defendant's crimes," but the final decision will depend on Judge Kaplan's interpretation of the case and consideration of the victims and affected parties.
“I think you’re going to see a sentence like this: I’m going to be sentenced to about 30 years in prison, and that’s what I think [SBF] is going to get — maybe more,” said Mark Beaney, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District. Mark Bini) said. pointed out a current partner at the New York law firm Reed Smith. “There’s a big dispute between the government and the defense about the loss numbers — what the actual losses were, because that’s a big driver of the guidelines.”
Beaney said the sentencing guidelines will require Judge Kaplan to consider the amount of money FTX lost when it collapsed, rather than any repayment plan the company proposed during bankruptcy proceedings. One of the proposed plans would fiatly compensate FTX users for lost cryptocurrency based on November 2022 prices — which many noted would cause them to miss out on the recent surge in the price of Bitcoin and other tokens.
"My whole life has been ruined," an unidentified FTX user with two children said in a victim impact statement submitted to the court. "I do not agree with SBF taking risks with my funds."
Source: Tiffany Fong
SBF’s cases are primarily new cases involving prominent figures in the digital asset space who have undergone comprehensive trials and been convicted and sentenced. Silk Road Market founder Ross Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015 to two life sentences without the possibility of parole. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison for exaggerating or falsifying claims about the company's blood-testing technology.
In the cryptocurrency space, former Binance CEO CZ(CZ) has pleaded guilty to a felony related to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at the cryptocurrency exchange and is scheduled to be sentenced in April. Alex Mashinsky, the former chief executive of Celsius Group, is due to stand trial in September on charges of defrauding and misleading customers.
"I don't think we're going to see [CZ's] cases affected that much because they're such a different type," Beeny said. “The Masinski case could have significant ramifications because the same defense attorney is now representing SBF, and both are in the Southern District of New York. They are not identical, but […] Masinski certainly will Watch.”
SBF's sentencing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET on March 28 in New York, his first court appearance since his attorneys waived potential conflicts of interest. It is unclear whether SBF's family will attend.
