FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing billions of dollars from customers. A federal judge also ordered him to forfeit more than $11 billion. So, what kind of message does this send to others accused of crimes involving digital assets?

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Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The sentencing came as a result of charges that he stole billions of dollars from customers. In addition to the prison term, a federal judge ordered Bankman-Fried to forfeit more than $11 billion.

The case against Sam Bankman-Fried and his subsequent sentencing raise questions about the broader implications for individuals accused of crimes involving digital assets. The significant prison sentence and the substantial forfeiture amount may serve as a deterrent to others contemplating similar fraudulent activities in the crypto space.



What message does SBF sentencing send to others?

You cover crypto regulation from Washington D.C.. How do you think this sentencing 25 years and forfeiting 11 billion dollars will reverberate throughout the community. And what message does it send to those right now who are facing charges. So you know I think from the perspective of legislation and regulation the extent of these crimes has already been well known. Right. So there have been actions after 2022. There was sort of an uptick in enforcement actions. We saw some activity on the Hill and writing new rules. You know obviously nothing that's been enacted. But there was kind of a lot. There were a lot of hearings being had. So I don't think it changes things from that perspective. But I think what it does send is a warning shot to other individuals who have been charged criminally in the U.S. I'm thinking of you know Doquan for instance from Terraform Labs. So I think that what the message they should take away from this is that you know they will be held accountable and you know the sentence could be severe. David we're focusing on the 25 years in prison which obviously is a huge part of the sentence. But another part of the sentence is forfeiting 11 billion dollars. What do we know about the money that Sam Bankman freed has access to right now. And that part of what the judge said. I think this is a great mystery and it's also something that was kind of dealt with his folly in the sentencing memo that we got from the defense. They kind of said that this would be superfluous to have a seizure or forfeiture of this size just in light of what's happened here. You know it's a great mystery sort of who's paying for Sam Bankman for its legal counsel. He's switched legal teams. All of this is very expensive. We don't we don't really have a whole lot of insight into his finances currently. And you know part of today's hearing centered on this pre sentencing report which included presumably a lot of financial information to which we have no insight. It's not going to be made made public. Yeah I would say that the attitude that we have seen from the defense is that this is this is you know another another blow to the defendant to Sam Bankman freed. But again his circumstances are kind of opaque and it's unlikely that he would be able to come up with this kind of money now of course. And Allison before we let you go of course it seems like the defense is really trying to paint Sam Bankman freed as really this kind hearted math nerd who didn't have malicious intent. It seems as though that really didn't hold a lot of water with the judge though. No the judge was very clear that these were serious crimes. He sort of he called out the fact that Bankman free didn't really admit or acknowledge actually committing crimes. While he did feel contrite about the losses that people have faced he put a lot of blame on the bankruptcy estate and how that's been handled. And so it was clear that that didn't play very well with the judge. Also what didn't seem to play well was the fact that you know he and his defense were continuing to say that FTSE was solvent when it filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 or that you know the bankruptcy estate from the recovery process is recouping enough money so that there aren't going to be any losses. You know he definitely pushed back against that idea and the fact that you know there's not any loss or harm to these victims. And it was something that we also saw from the victim who took the stand as well.

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