Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A federal judge slapped Sam Bankman-Fried with a 25-year sentence today for his role in bankrupting cryptocurrency platform FTX and defrauding its customers, completing his downfall from quirky billionaire philanthropist to felon.
Why it matters: Judge Lewis Kaplan chose a much harsher sentence for the disgraced crypto mogul than the defense's request of five to seven years, Axios Crypto's Brady Dale writes.
In pre-sentencing comments, Kaplan ripped the disgraced entrepreneur for his "apparent lack of any remorse."
"He knew it was wrong, he knew it was criminal, he regrets he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught," Kaplan said.
The big picture: FTX's bankruptcy is seen as the climax of the crypto crash that wiped out more than $2 trillion in global wealth. The rout deepened as the terra stablecoin blew up, which exposed the house of cards that Three Arrows Capital had become.
💠Brady's thought bubble: SBF believed he could play with other people's money, make lots more, pay them all back, and do all sorts of good — such as preventing the next pandemic.
Instead, the company got out over its skis, stopped processing customer withdrawals, declared bankruptcy, fired hundreds of employees, and gave thousands of users two very stressful years.
