The legal representative for former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried has submitted a memorandum to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, urging the judge to impose a prison term ranging between five and a quarter and six and a half years.
SBF faces a potential maximum sentence of 110 years subsequent to a jury convicting him of multiple instances of fraud and money laundering in November 2023.
SBF stands accused of two counts of wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of securities fraud, one count of commodities fraud conspiracy, and one count of money laundering conspiracy. Judge Lewis Kaplan, presiding over the SBF trial, is slated to declare the sentence on March 28.
While federal prosecutors are anticipated to present their recommendations for sentencing by March 15, the Pre-sentence Investigation Report (PSR) has advised a 100-year term for the erstwhile FTX CEO.
FTX legal representatives contend that the proposed 100-year sentence in the PSR is excessively harsh.
They argue that SBF, a first-time offender devoid of prior criminal records, engaged in the conduct alongside “at least four other culpable individuals,” in a situation where victims are expected to recover the entirety of their losses.
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The filing deliberated on the absence of harm to customers, lenders, and investors, as the FTX bankruptcy estate is projected to reimburse customers entirely.
Additionally, the legal counsel highlighted numerous letters from friends and family advocating for a merciful sentence.
SBF has been incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, since the summer of 2023. Various accounts of his time in jail have emerged, from bartering mackerel for a haircut to facing extortion for protection.
Now, another anecdote from his imprisonment has surfaced, with The New York Times reporting that SBF is dispensing trading and investment guidance, and encouraging prison guards to invest in Solana’s crypto token, with which he has a lengthy association.
FTX was once among the foremost cryptocurrency exchanges, boasting a valuation of $32 billion in January 2022, before its collapse in November of the same year.
SBF was found guilty of mishandling $8 billion in customer funds and multiple other instances of fraud.
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