- U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for fraud and other crimes.
- Despite SBF expressing regret over FTX's downfall, Judge Kaplan noted the absence of genuine remorse for his criminal actions.
- As SBF faces sentencing, crypto enthusiasts react by launching meme coins on Ethereum and Solana, some experiencing brief spikes in value.
Finally, the saga of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), co-founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, came to an end on Thursday in New York City.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan delivered a 25-year prison sentence to SBF for defrauding customers and investors of his now-defunct company, with three years of supervised release and mandating the surrender of over $11 billion in unlawfully acquired assets.
At the sentencing, Judge Kaplan said that SBF is a strategic mathematician, but he’s driven by a desire for power and influence, and he deliberately engaged in malpractice. Despite SBF expressing regret over FTX's downfall, Judge Kaplan noted the absence of genuine remorse for his criminal actions.
“He knew it was wrong, he knew it was criminal,” Kaplan said.
Before delivering the sentence, Judge Kaplan also gave a strong evaluation of SBF's actions. He criticized him for lying in his trial testimony by claiming ignorance until the final moments about his companies misappropriating customer funds entrusted for safekeeping for alternate uses.
The fallen crypto mogul diverted more than $8 billion of client funds to finance speculative venture investments, celebrity athlete endorsements, and an extravagant lifestyle in the Bahamas, among other outlays.
In fact, in November 2023, it took the jury only five hours to convict SBF on seven charges, including fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, facing a possible sentence of up to 110 years in prison.
While SBF faced his sentencing, crypto degens launched a series of meme coins. Some of these coins even spiked in value, soaring by over 30,000%, only to crash to zero.
On Ethereum’s Base, a crypto enthusiast introduced a meme coin named "Sam Baseman Fraud". Meanwhile, on Solana, a similar yet slightly more inventive token emerged—"Som Bonkmon Fraud".
Last week, John Ray III, acting CEO of FTX, was vocal in criticizing SBF's defense and actions. In a letter to Judge Kaplan, Ray emphasized that contrary to SBF's assertions of solvency and intact assets at FTX, the reality shows a contrast, with vast sums of money missing and customer assets significantly depleted.
Earlier this week, the FTX bankruptcy estate arranged to sell most of its stake in AI startup Anthropic for $884 million, in a bid to compensate those affected by the exchange's collapse. ATIC Third International Investment Company is the primary purchaser, according to court documents.
Edited by Harshajit Sarmah
