4 weeks ago
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Addressing the court for a final time before he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried veered between contrition and defiance.
The former tech prodigy spoke for 20 minutes, claiming the collapse of his crypto trading company 'haunts me every day.'
In the rambling address, Bankman-Fried paid tribute to his former colleagues at FTX - many of whom testified against him - who ‘poured themselves into the company for years then watched me throw away everything they’d built.’
He said: ‘A lot of people feel really let down and they were very let down.
‘I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage. Things I should have done, things I shouldn’t have.’
Bankman-Fried spoke for 20 minutes during his sentencing hearing, claiming the collapse of his crypto trading company 'haunts me every day,' He is pictured in a sketch from a February hearing
In the rambling address, Bankman-Fried paid tribute to his former colleagues at FTX - many of whom testified against him. He is pictured in jail
Bankman-Fried apologized to his colleagues and investors who were hurt by the scheme. Pictured: Bankman-Fried in February 2023
His parents have supported their son through the trial and arrived at court for the sentencing on Thursday
When he stood up to address the court Bankman-Fried seemed nervous, wrapping his arms around his body and shifting his weight.
His hair had grown long in between the trial and the sentencing, but he was clean-shaven.
Seeming to despair ahead of the ruling, Bankman-Fried said: 'My useful life is probably over. It´s been over for a while now, from before my arrest.'
He added: ‘I don’t know that the most important thing here today is my emotional life or my hypothetical future kids.’
He claimed that the collapse of FTX ‘haunts me every day’ and said: ‘I made a series of bad decision. They werent’ selfish decisions, they were bad decisions. Those culminated with a bunch of other factors.'
'It's been excruciating to watch,' he said, 'Customers don't deserve any of that pain.'
But he continued to insist that FTX customers could be paid back in full, even though that isn’t the case.
He said: ‘There were enough assets, there are enough assets to pay back investors in full.
‘There are enough assets for that. It’s not because of a rising price of crypto, that hasn’t hurt certainly. There was always enough value to do that’.
Bankman-Fried went on to claim it was ‘excruciating to watch all of this unfold in slow motion’, referring to seeing customers not get their money back.
He added: 'I’ve long since given everything I have to give and I'd’ do anything to be out there trying to help but I can’t really do that from prison.'
He admitted: ‘I was the CEO of FTX, I was its leader. That means that I was responsible for what happened to it. It doesn’t matter why things go bad when you're responsible, it’s on you…it’s collapse is on me.
Judge Lewis Kaplan was quick to bash Bankman-Fried during the hearing and noted the fraudster committed perjury multiple times during a trial that saw him convicted on all counts by a jury
Judge Kaplan noted the Bankman-Fried perjured himself three times during trial. He also noted how the felon committed witness tampering, which landed him the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (pictured)
The judge quickly dismissed the idea that Bankman-Fried deserves a lighter sentence because FTX customers didn't lose anything in the fraud. Pictured: Bankman-Fried leaves a courthouse in March 2023
‘I’m not the one who matters the most at the end of the day. What matters is the customers, the creditors, the employees, the people who have suffered a lot because of this.'
Before the sentencing, Judge Lewis Kaplan was quick to bash Bankman-Fried during the hearing and noted the fraudster committed perjury multiple times during a trial that saw him convicted on all counts by a jury.
He also called Bankman-Fried a 'thief' who 'is not entitled' to a lighter sentence.
His sentencing comes months after a Manhattan jury convicted him on all seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
The monthlong trial began in October 2023, and ended days before the anniversary of the FTX collapse in November 2022.
The government claimed that billions worth of customer money was funneled out of FTX and into Alameda to pay back the giant loans it had taken out from other crypto lenders.
The trial, with a guilty verdict, capped off the fall for FTX and Bankman-Fried himself, who was once thought of as the most promising man to herald crypto into equal standing with traditional finance.
