Exactly 500 days after the collapse of the FTX exchange, its founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) attended the sentencing hearing on the evening of the 28th. He said in court: "I destroyed everything my colleagues had built. They were disappointed. .I'm sorry for that, I'm sorry for what happened at every stage."
At the same time, SBF also admitted that its decision-making led to the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research, and apologized for this; however, he emphasized that its decision-making was not motivated by selfishness, but was a crisis caused by a series of wrong executions and other factors.
In the end, the judge sentenced SBF (now 32 years old) to a total of 25 years in prison. The jury had previously found him guilty on all 7 counts , including fraud, money laundering and other financial felonies.
Judge rejects SBF's argument that victims were paid in full
At the sentencing hearing, the judge rejected SBF's argument that investors had been paid in full, saying more than $550 million had been lost. In addition, the judges said they found that SBF attempted to tamper with witnesses and provide perjury during the trial.
U.S. Department of Justice files victim statement
Previously, in order to support prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations, the U.S. Department of Justice submitted dozens of victim impact statements from FTX creditors to the court. These victims came from all over the world and described in their letters their FTX assets and FTX’s bankruptcy. impact on their lives.
According to CoinDesk, these victims said that the collapse of FTX in 2022 "took away their financial security," caused emotional harm, and "created a sense of insecurity and distrust in the financial system."
One victim said he has been without income for more than a year, and his life is now worsened by unemployment and ongoing disability determination proceedings. Other interviewees said they have lost their jobs due to health problems and rely on storage. Funding at FTX.
Some victims mentioned that they trusted FTX because of what SBF said, or because they believed that U.S. exchanges would be regulated. Some of the victims questioned the retrieval of 100% of FTX assets, saying that FTX planned to follow the 2022 Compensation will be based on the asset value under the currency price at the time of bankruptcy in November, rather than the asset value under the current currency price.
