Sam Bankman-Fried Should Get 40 to 50 Years in Prison, Prosecutors Say
The New York Times
Mr. Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, faces a maximum penalty of 110 years.
Federal prosecutors said on Friday that Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency mogul who was convicted of masterminding a multibillion-dollar fraud, should receive a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years.
The prosecutors outlined the recommendation in a filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Mr. Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 28, when Judge Lewis A. Kaplan will decide his fate. He faces a maximum possible penalty of 110 years.
“Justice requires that he receive a prison sentence commensurate with the extraordinary dimensions of his crimes,” the prosecutors said in a 116-page sentencing memo to the judge.
The federal probation department separately recommended a 100-year sentence for Mr. Bankman-Fried, 32, effectively a life sentence. But prosecutors said in the filing that sending him to prison for the rest of his life was not warranted, despite the severity of his crime, because of his relative youth.
In a filing last month, lawyers for Mr. Bankman-Fried argued that he should receive a sentence of no more than six and a half years.
A spokesman for Mr. Bankman-Fried said Friday that a lawyer for him will file a response to the government early next week.
