Written by Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Attorneys for Sam Bankman Fried requested a decide on Tuesday to impose a lenient sentence on the FTX founder's conviction for stealing $8 billion from prospects of the bankrupt cryptocurrency trade. and claimed that prospects would get most of their funds again.

In a sentencing submission, Bankman Freed's legal professional Mark Mukasey instructed U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan {that a} jail time period starting from 5 1/4 years to six 1/2 years can be acceptable. Ta.

That's lower than the utmost sentence of 110 years he confronted after a jury convicted him in November on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in what prosecutors referred to as one of many largest monetary frauds in U.S. historical past. A lot decrease.

Bankman Freed maintains his innocence and is predicted to attraction the conviction and sentence. Though he acknowledged that FTX had been mismanaged, he by no means meant to steal prospects' funds, he testified at trial.

Kaplan is scheduled to condemn the previous billionaire, who turns 32 subsequent week, on March 28.

The legal professional's submission was accompanied by letters of assist from Bankman-Fried's dad and mom, psychiatrist and others.

His dad and mom, Stanford College legislation professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, mentioned their son was tired of materials wealth and that the November 2022 chapter of Bahamas-based FTX was one in every of them. He mentioned he labored laborious to draw prospects for a month earlier than being arrested on fraud costs a month later.

“Barbara and I … witnessed his single-minded concentrate on getting a reimbursement to his depositors, lengthy after he may have saved any of his inventory or belongings,” Bankman mentioned. wrote.

Mukasey referred to as the 100-year guideline vary calculated by the probation officer “barbaric” and mentioned it was primarily based partly on false claims that FTX prospects had misplaced billions of {dollars}.

He pointed to the bankrupt firm's current declare that it plans to repay all prospects in full to assist its argument that Bankman Freed was not aiming to steal.

“The conviction doesn’t point out whether or not Sam meant to repay the cash. He did,” Mukasey wrote.

The probation officer's calculations aren’t binding on Kaplan. The federal prosecutor's workplace in Manhattan is predicted to make its personal sentencing advice by March 15.

Elizabeth Holmes or Michael Milken?

Bankman Fried, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise, had a internet price as soon as estimated by Forbes journal at $26 billion, using the growth within the worth of digital belongings equivalent to Bitcoin. His fortune evaporated in November 2022, when FTX declared chapter after a collection of buyer withdrawals.

At his month-long trial in Manhattan federal courtroom, three former aides accused Bankman Fried of looting FTX consumer funds to cowl losses at his Alameda Analysis hedge fund. He testified that he instructed him to assist. Cryptocurrency market.

Prosecutors mentioned Bankman Fried used consumer funds to purchase luxurious actual property within the Bahamas and donate to U.S. politicians who would possibly assist crypto-friendly laws. Ta.

Bankman Freed testified that he didn’t understand how a lot Alameda owed FTX till simply earlier than the businesses went bankrupt.

Mukasey mentioned Bankman Freed's case is much like that of one other younger entrepreneur, Elizabeth, who was sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2022 for defrauding buyers on the now-shuttered blood testing startup Theranos. He acknowledged that there have been some similarities to the Holmes case.

However he mentioned Holmes was placing sufferers in danger and steered Bankman-Freed had extra in widespread with Michael Milken. Michael Milken was a Eighties Wall Avenue investor often known as the “junk bond king” who was launched after serving simply two years in his first time period. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail for fraud.

“Given the identical probability, Sam would commit his post-prison life to philanthropy,” Mukasey wrote.

Mother says she'll change locations.

Bankman Fried has been incarcerated at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Middle since August, when Kaplan revoked his bail on suspicion of doable witness tampering.

George Lerner, Bankman Freed's psychiatrist, wrote in a letter to Kaplan that he was on the autism spectrum. Mukasey wrote that Bankman-Freed struggles to make eye contact and talk with others and could possibly be weak in jail.

Bankman Freed's mom wrote that her son took accountability for the errors that led to FTX's collapse and was remorseful, however mentioned she was frightened about life in jail.

“His father and I face the very actual risk that he is not going to reside to see his launch,” Freed wrote. “I’d gladly exchange him if I may.”