Sam Bankman-Fried expressed his remorse to the individuals he duped during his sentencing on Thursday, as he potentially faces a lengthy prison term.
This comes after he was convicted of embezzling over $8 billion from customers of his defunct cryptocurrency platform, FTX.
“At the end of the day, I failed everyone that I care about and everything that I care about, too,” the 32-year-old convicted fraudster said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
“A lot of people feel really let down and, I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage. I made a series of bad decisions, they weren’t selfish decisions, they weren’t selfless decisions. They were bad decisions.”
Bankman-Fried, poster boy of the cryptocurrency industry in the United States, experienced a sudden downfall in November 2022.
Despite his company’s peak value of $40 billion, this tech mogul’s extravagant lifestyle included flying on private jets, generously donating millions to politicians who showed potential support for crypto, and even mingling with celebrities at events like the Super Bowl.
However, following the collapse of his platform, he faced arrest in the Bahamas. The charges against him involved misappropriating FTX user funds to cover an $8 billion debt at his failing hedge fund, Alameda Research.
In November of the previous year, a jury determined that this former crypto prodigy had plundered the accounts of “tens of thousands” of individuals, including those residing in war-torn and unstable nations. These individuals had entrusted their hard-earned savings to him, only to suffer devastating losses.
Additionally, Bankman-Fried was found guilty of deceiving FTX’s lenders by presenting them with falsified balance sheets, as well as lying to the company’s investors. Prosecutors estimated that he had amassed approximately $3 billion in illicit profits through these fraudulent schemes.
Since August, Bankman-Fried has been imprisoned after US District Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked his bail. The judge made this decision upon discovering that he had tampered with witnesses, including leaking his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison’s diary to a journalist.
Kaplan was requested by federal authorities to impose a sentence of 40- to 50 years in prison for Bankman-Fried, following his conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.
On the other hand, the defence attorneys representing the disgraced crypto expert advocated for a significantly shorter sentence of only 5¼ to 6½ years.
During the month-long trial, Bankman-Fried transformed his appearance, opting for a well-groomed hairstyle and donning a suit and tie. However, his decision to testify in his own defense did not yield favourable results.
He repeatedly claimed to have no recollection of crucial details regarding his business, such as his repeated assurances of the platform’s safety. Yet, when confronted with substantial evidence contradicting his claims, it became evident that he had indeed made numerous statements that he conveniently claimed to forget.
Furthermore, throughout his four-day testimony, the fallen crypto magnate displayed no signs of remorse for the customers who suffered financial losses due to the collapse of FTX.
“Even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this month. “His life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; and courting risk and gambling repeatedly with other people’s money.”
