Thanks to SBF ‘garbage fire’, FTX victims will ‘never’ – John Ray

FTX structuring officer and CEO John Ray III opposed attempts by Sam Bankman-Fried's attorneys to reduce the sentence, arguing that the victims “suffered and continue to suffer.”

Ray, representing FTX and “millions of creditor victims,” ​​wrote to Judge Louis Kaplan on March 20 asking Bankman-Fried to “correct material errors and omissions in the judgment.”

The letter comes after Bankman-Fried's attorneys argued on March 19 that U.S. prosecutors said the 40- to 50-year sentence guidelines were too harsh.

Ray argued that Bankuman-Fried's claim that FTX was bankrupt and that no money had been lost was “blindly, recklessly and patently false.”

“Customers would not be where they are today if they hadn't been exposed to Mr. Banman-Fried and his brand of so-called altruism.”

Ray says he has led a broad team that has spent more than a year “protecting assets from the proverbial dumpster fire” to a company that “returns significant value to creditors.”

“To Mr. Banman Fried's victims, they will not return to their economic status today without the massive fraud,” he added in another part of the letter.

Ray He took over the troubled exchange in November 2022 and outlined extensive work by an army of lawyers to recover assets, cooperate with investigations and classify the company, now planning to return all value to creditors.

This recovery does not erase the significant damage caused by Bankman-Fried's crimes, Ray said.

When he took over as CEO, he had only 105 Bitcoins (BTC) left on FTX, as opposed to almost 100,000 BTC of client rights.

“Why did bitcoins disappear?” “Mr Banman-Fried stole them and turned them into something else,” he questioned before jurors said.

Ray Banman-Fried considered conflicting public relations tactics after the bankruptcy, saying he wanted to blame the restructuring group and also work with them to pay off creditors.

Related: SBF Says 50-Year Jail Treats Him As ‘Depraved Super-Villain'

Referring to the recent rally in the crypto market, Ray said the firm only has recoverable assets due to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.

“Make no mistake; customers, non-government creditors, government creditors and non-inside shareholders have suffered and are still suffering,” he concluded.

Bankman Fried's attorneys argued that the 40- to 50-year sentence was “medieval” for “violent crimes,” and they asked for it to be reduced to around five to six-and-a-half years.

Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven charges related to various fraud and money laundering brought against him by the United States government, almost a year after the collapse of the crypto exchange.

He is to be sentenced on March 28.

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