Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years behind bars

On a rainy Thursday in New York City, the Sam Bankman-Fried saga ended—at least for now.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. He was sentenced. The co-founder and former CEO of FTX was sentenced to 25 years in prison, three years of probation and more than $11 billion in ill-gotten gains. Attorneys for Sam Bankman-Fried said they plan to appeal.

But Kaplan's sentencing hearing was not the usual 15 minutes. Richard Parting, a 42-year-old part-time teacher on Long Island, was the first member of the public to line up in the dark to see the Third State's successful prosecution of the law. Bankman-fried.

Add in crypto influencer Ben “Beatboy” Armstrong, a derailed victim statement, a quietly defiant Bankman-Fried and Kaplan's denunciation of the former FTX CEO, and Thursday's hearing was a fitting end to what had already been a trial. fair share Bomb It explains.

outside the court

Partington III, among a small group of reporters lined up to take a seat in the main courtroom, began encamping under the canopy of the New York courthouse at 8:30 p.m.

“You hear people like that a lot,” he said. Decrypt In an interview, he said of Bankman-Fried, “And it's hard to tell with the news whether things are true or not. That's why he went to trial in November and why he decided to go to trial.

He was not the only member of the public to line up in the rain. A mother, father and their 15-year-old son traveled outside of Boston. Mother Ann Guo, 48, said Bankuman-Fried's sentencing was a “good learning opportunity” for her toddler. There were also law students, a documentary filmmaker, a crypto investor and of course a group of journalists.

Ben “Beatboy” Armstrong, crypto influencer abducted He flew from Atlanta, Georgia to visit another court in the ongoing legal dispute. “We don't want to see these exchanges,” he said of FTX. “We don't want to bend the rules from traditional finance to crypto.”

‘This was partly my doing.'

In the morning, the Bankman-Fried trial began. His parents, Joseph Allen Bankman and Barbara Fried, sat at the front of the courtroom and watched their son enter.

Judge Kaplan made legal decisions and then began Sunil KavuriA victim of FTX from the UK, addressed the court. “I lived the FTX nightmare for two years,” he said, detailing how the crypto exchange's collapse cost him savings set aside for a future home and his children's education.

However, after the victim's statement focused solely on FTX's bankruptcy and the decision to return asset funds to customers in dollars, the value of their digital assets when the exchange collapses – not their current value. “I think it's worth bringing your statement to the conclusion,” Kaplan said, finally getting impatient.

After Bankuman-Fried's lawyer argued to the judge for a lesser sentence – his client is “an amazing puzzle,” the former crypto wunderkind himself told the judge.

“At the end of the day, I fail everybody,” said Banman-Fried, wearing a prison-issued sack. He moved on, but repeatedly failed to fulfill his responsibilities. He said FTX victims should have been fully reimbursed but never were: “That was, in part, my doing.”

And he tactfully defended his text message to Ryan Miller, FTX's former general counsel and prosecution witness, in which he said, “I'd love to see if there's any way we can reconnect and have a constructive relationship.” “

“At the end of the day, there is a silver lining that victims of FTX can fill,” he concluded his address to Kaplan. (In Letter to the judgesaid John Jay Ray III, CEO of FTX Estates, that full payment is not a foregone conclusion.)

Judge discipline

Near the end of the trial, Kaplan told Bankman-Fried that the former CEO “has never expressed any remorse for his crimes.”

Citing the testimony of Carolyn Ellison, Kaplan's former love interest at crypto hedge fund Alameda Trading (FTX's sister company) and Bankuman-Fried, Kaplan said that instead of regretting his crimes, the former CEO was “remorseful.” He made a very bad bet to hold.

Kaplan added that Banman-Fried documented at least three instances of perjury during the trial. “I've never seen a performance like this,” the FTX co-founder said of his time in the witness stand.

He read the sentence. Bankman-Fried's father put his head between his legs and his mother cast her eyes down. Court was dismissed before noon.

Edited by Andrew Hayward.