Prosecutors demand decades in prison for Bankman-Fried Due to new documents: hush money trial against Trump is postponed

US prosecutors have sought 40 to 50 years for cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of fraud. In their application on Friday, they mentioned, among other things, investor losses of more than ten billion dollars.

The 32-year-old founder of the crypto exchange FTX was found guilty by a jury in November. If Kaplan exhausts the proposed sentences on all charges, it could result in more than 100 years in prison. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers suggested a prison sentence of about six years.

FTX, one of the largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, collapsed spectacularly at the end of 2022. Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States.

Embezzled money from customers

While the cryptocurrency business can be complicated, the scam can ultimately be summed up in three words: Misappropriation of customer assets. Bankman-Fried also had a hedge fund called Alameda Research that made risky trades and borrowed money from FTX. In fact, collateral should have been posted for such transactions. There were also computer systems that had to take care of this. But this software made a secret exception for Alameda. This allowed the hedge fund to go as deep as it wanted on FTX. But the Alameda deals went wrong – and there was a billion-dollar hole in FTX’s coffers.

Bankman-Fried said in court that he had only a partial understanding of the financial situation of his companies. However, prosecutors accused him of “unsurpassed greed” and stressed that given the “historical” dimension of the crime, the sentence should be appropriately severe. This should also “promote respect for the law”. Prosecutors also accused Bankman-Fried of repeatedly lying under oath. If the judge also comes to this conclusion, the sentence could be higher. (saw/sda/dpa)