Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing under way for multibillion-dollar crypto fraud

Bankman-Fried told the court Thursday morning, “I am sorry”. Previously, Bankman-Fried had expressed little contrition for his role in what happened at FTX. He maintained throughout his trial that he had not committed fraud.

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“A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down, and I am sorry about that. I am sorry about what happened at every stage,” he said.

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Judge Lewis Kaplan said at the start of the hearing that Sam Bankman-Fried had committed crimes during and after his trial in addition to the wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money the 32-year-old was convicted of.

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Kaplan said Bankman-Fried communicated with FTX’s former general counsel before the ex-CEO was remanded into custody. Bankman-Fried’s bail was revoked before his trial after the diary of his ex-girlfriend, Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, leaked to The New York Times. Bankman-Fried also committed perjury while testifying, Kaplan said, when Bankman-Fried said that he had not known that Alameda Research, a hedge fund closely tied to FTX, was spending FTX customer deposits for its own ends.

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Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing has begun in Manhattan federal court before Judge Lewis Kaplan.

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Facing more than 100 years in prison, though prosecutors have asked for 40-50 and his own attorneys have asked for just six, he has been detained in Brooklyn since his trial in November. The former CEO is in the courthouse.

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Sam Bankman-Fried, along with former Google employee Gary Wang, found the crypto exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried is in his 20s and had just left the trading firm Jane Street Capital.

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Cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s then CEO Changpeng Zhao invests $100m in FTX in exchange for 20% of the company. 

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Bankman-Fried relocates the firm’s headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas in 2021, buying up millions in real estate and setting up residence in the nation.

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Bankman-Fried and FTX strike a deal on the company’s first big partnership, reaching a sponsorship deal with Mercedes’ Formula One racing team. Meanwhile, FTX raises hundreds of millions in a funding…