FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing billions of dollars from customers, marking the final chapter in a case that has upended the crypto industry.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan delivered the sentence in federal court in Manhattan moments after Bankman-Fried said he was "sorry about what happened at every stage.” He was convicted last year of seven offenses, including fraud and conspiracy.
The one-time billionaire became a symbol of malfeasance and greed in the crypto world after his hugely popular FTX exchange collapsed, exposing a yearslong fraud that swindled about $10 billion from customers, investors and lenders. Bankman-Fried, 32, had denied knowingly committing fraud and claimed he and his crypto empire were victims of market downturns in 2022.