Lawyers representing Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted crypto crook, have vehemently opposed federal prosecutors’ request for a 40 to 50-year prison sentence. Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty in November of stealing $8 billion from customers of his defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange, is set to be sentenced on March 28.
In a letter filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey, criticized the prosecutors’ portrayal of his client as a “supervillain” with “megalomaniacal motives.” Mukasey argued that the requested sentence, which he described as a “death-in-prison” penalty, demonstrated a “medieval view of punishment.”
Mukasey further contended that the prosecutors’ aim was to “break” Bankman-Fried, highlighting the absence of any precedent where a non-violent offender had served such a lengthy term and been released afterward. He emphasized the potential negative impact on Bankman-Fried’s health, citing studies that indicate a decline in life expectancy for each year of imprisonment.
The jury’s verdict in November found Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Testimony during the trial revealed that he instructed his associates to misappropriate FTX customer funds to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. Additionally, Bankman-Fried used the stolen funds to acquire luxury real estate in the Bahamas and make political donations to politicians who supported cryptocurrency-friendly regulations, according to prosecutors.
To date, 251 political candidates and committees have returned $3.3 million in donations received from Bankman-Fried and others at FTX, as stated by the prosecution. As part of his sentence, prosecutors are seeking $11 billion in forfeiture from Bankman-Fried to compensate lender and investor losses.
Bankman-Fried’s defense team plans to appeal both the conviction and the sentence. The defendant has been in custody since August, when Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked his bail due to suspicions of witness tampering.