Democrat Megadonor Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years for Fraud

Clear Facts

• Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX and a significant Democrat donor, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud.
• Judge Lewis Kaplan found Bankman-Fried guilty of witness tampering and perjury, in addition to his financial crimes.
• Despite his conviction, the Department of Justice declined to prosecute Bankman-Fried for allegedly using customer funds for unlawful political donations and alleged bribery of foreign officials.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX and a well-known Democrat megadonor, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for his fraudulent activities. This sentence is significantly less severe than the potential 100 years he was facing for his crimes, which included perjury and witness tampering.

Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the case, stated that Bankman-Fried had tampered with witnesses by communicating with the former FTX general counsel before being taken into custody. Furthermore, Bankman-Fried was found guilty of perjury during his trial, having falsely claimed that he was unaware of Alameda Research, FTX’s sister company and hedge fund, using FTX customer deposits prior to the fall of 2022.

“Sam Bankman-Fried stole over $8 billion in customer money, and I emphasize stole because it was not a liquidity crisis, or an active mismanagement, or poor oversight from the top. It was not a bloodless financial loss on paper,” said Prosecutor Nicolas Roos.

In defense of Bankman-Fried, his attorney, Marc Mukasey, argued, “Sam was not a ruthless financial serial killer who set out every morning to hurt people.” Mukasey went on to describe Bankman-Fried as a misunderstood “awkward math nerd” who is passionate about video games, veganism, and animal rights.

Bankman-Fried was convicted in early November on five counts of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud. His sentencing was met with harsh criticism from the current FTX CEO, John Ray, who accused Bankman-Fried of making “callously” and “demonstrably false” claims in an attempt to secure a lighter prison term. Ray stated that the damage caused by Bankman-Fried was “vast” and his remorse was “nonexistent.”

Despite his conviction, the Department of Justice declined to prosecute Bankman-Fried for his alleged unlawful political donations using customer funds or for his alleged bribery of foreign officials. During his time of influence, Bankman-Fried reportedly spent $100 million of stolen customer funds on donations, primarily to Democrats, and was the second-largest donor to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

The trial revealed many shocking details about Bankman-Fried and his operation of the cryptocurrency exchange. These revelations included claims that Bankman-Fried considered himself “soulless,” used bribery and illicit activities to unfreeze funds, ignored employee concerns about extravagant spending, and only “skimmed” the company’s terms of service.

Despite the severity of his crimes, Bankman-Fried’s sentence is significantly less than that of Bernie Madoff, another notorious fraudster who was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his multi-billion dollar fraud scheme.

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