Disgraced crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried has argued plans to put him behind bars for half a century amount to a ‘death-in-prison sentence’ and paint him as a ‘depraved super-villain’.
The co-founder of now-defunct FTX will be sentenced on Thursday next week after he was convicted of seven charges of fraud and conspiracy by a New York jury in November.
US prosecutors have called for a sentence of between 40 and 50 years for what has been described as ‘one of the biggest financial frauds in American history’.
They told the judge who will sentence SBF – as he is widely known – that he showed ‘unmatched greed and hubris’ and a ‘pernicious megalomania’ driven by his ‘own values and sense of superiority’.
But while the call for as long as half-a-century behind bars is less than the full 100 years recommended in US criminal guidelines, it is much more than the six-and-a-half years suggested by Bankman-Fried’s lawyers.
Justice? Sam Bankman-Fried is facing 50 years in jail after being convicted of seven charges of fraud and conspiracy
The defence team described the prosecution proposals as ‘disturbing’ and claimed the US government ‘wants to break’ the 32-year-old.
In their submission to the judge, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers wrote: ‘With marked hostility, the memorandum distorts reality… and casts Sam as a depraved super-villain.
‘It attributes to him dark and megalomaniacal motives that fly in the face of the record; it makes apocalyptic prophecies of recidivism; and it adopts a medieval view of punishment to reach what amounts to a death-in-prison sentencing recommendation. That is not justice.’
Bankman-Fried’s parents – law professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried – have already told the judge that they feared for their son’s life in prison.
‘His father and I face the very real possibility that we will not live long enough to see him freed,’ his mother wrote. ‘I would gladly change places with him if I could.’
Bankman-Fried was found guilty after the collapse of his exchange FTX.
He was accused of leaving a £6billion hole in the company’s accounts after siphoning off customers’ cash to make risky bets, repay loans and buy property.
