Prosecutors seek up to 50 years in jail for FTX founder in cryptocurrency fraud

Prosecutors made the request as they submitted their pre-sentence recommendations to a federal judge who will sentence a man who at one time dazzled the cryptocurrency world with his promotional skills, including his access to famous people willing to promote his businesses.

Bankman-Fried, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced in Manhattan federal court on March 28 for his November conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors say he cost customers and investors in FTX and its related companies at least 10 billion dollars (£7.85 billion) from 2017 to 2022.

He was extradited to the United States in December 2022 from the Bahamas after his companies collapsed a month earlier.

Originally permitted to remain at home with his parents in Palo Alto, California, he was jailed last year weeks before his trial after Judge Lewis A Kaplan concluded that he had tried to tamper with trial witnesses.

In their pre-sentence submission, prosecutors described Bankman-Fried’s crimes as “one of the largest financial frauds in history, and what is likely the largest fraud in the last decade”.

“The defendant victimised tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years,” they wrote.

“He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him; he lied to investors; he sent fabricated documents to lenders; he pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system; and he bribed foreign officials.

“Each of these crimes is worthy of a lengthy sentence.”

They said his “unlawful political donations to more than 300 politicians and political action groups, amounting to in excess of 100 million dollars (£78.5 million), is believed to be the largest-ever campaign finance offence”.

And they said his 150 million dollars (£118 million) in bribes to Chinese government officials was one of the single largest by an individual.

“Even following FTX’s bankruptcy and his subsequent arrest, Bankman-Fried shirked responsibility, deflected blame to market events and other individuals, attempted to tamper with witnesses, and lied repeatedly under oath,” prosecutors said, citing his testimony at trial.

Two weeks ago, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers attacked a probation office recommendation that their client serve 100 years in prison, saying a sentence of that length would be “grotesque” and “barbaric”.

They urged the judge to sentence Bankman-Fried to just a few years behind bars after calculating federal sentencing guidelines to recommend a term of five to six and a half years in prison.

“Sam is not the ‘evil genius’ depicted in the media or the greedy villain described at trial,” his lawyers wrote. “Sam is a … first-time, non-violent offender, who was joined in the conduct at issue by at least four other culpable individuals, in a matter where victims are poised to recover — were always poised to recover — a hundred cents on the dollar.”