Sam Bankman-Fried Should Spend 40-50 Years in Prison, DOJ Says

[ABCbits]

Sam Bankman-Fried Should Spend 40-50 Years in Prison, DOJ Says

U.S. prosecutors recommended that a federal judge sentence FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to 40-50 years in prison for his conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges tied to the collapse of what was once one of the world's largest crypto exchanges. Read more here.


He definitely deserve more fine. Although to me it's not clear whether DOJ suggest additional or reduction in prison time. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

[Lucius]

DOJ may just want to in some way encourage the court not to make a "mistake" in terms of the length of the sentence, which is a good move considering what the defendant's lawyers are trying to do. In my opinion, the appropriate punishment is the one that would keep Bankman in prison long enough to prevent him from repeating something similar, but also to send a clear message to everyone who has similar intentions.

A higher sentence also means that Bankman will have to be in prison longer before he can ask for a pardon, so even 40 years doesn't seem bad considering how much he could actually get, which is 100+ years.

[hugeblack]

Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers will try to reduce the sentence period, especially since it is not a criminal case, and if it were not for the media momentum and the fact that it was a precedent, he would spend an average of less than 20 years in prison.
Given the media repercussions of the case and considering it a public opinion issue, I expect that 40-50 years in prison will be very reasonable.

[Z-tight]

If you consider it, 40 or 50 years is not so bad, and by the time sbf is out of prison after 40 or 50 years, he would have spent most of his life in prison and it would be a good deterrent to people committing or planning to commit such crimes as him. 100 years might just be too much, even though i think his crimes are worth it, we would see what happens on March 28.

[ScamViruS]

What Sam Bankman-Fried did deserves this sentence and it should serve as a warning to others who want to do the same thing. After spending 40-50 years in prison, when he is released he will be at the end of his life and will no longer have the capacity to commit crimes again. For Sam Bankman-Fried, how many innocent people have suffered a huge loss he has robbed of happiness and peace from their lives. So in my opinion he should be 100 years prison.

[Z-tight]

For Sam Bankman-Fried, how many innocent people have suffered a huge loss he has robbed of happiness and peace from their lives.

This is why the judges have to be careful with this case, the creditors are monitoring it closely and i believe many of them would only be happy if sbf gets ~ 100 years in jail, but i believe 40-50 years is fair. However, if sbf gets anything close to what his lawyers are suggesting to the court, which is 6-7 years i think, this will cause an outrage amongst the creditors and many members of the crypto community.

[Stompix]

Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers will try to reduce the sentence period, especially since it is not a criminal case, and if it were not for the media momentum and the fact that it was a precedent, he would spend an average of less than 20 years in prison.

It's still a criminal trial, all three charges against him, fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering are considered crimes, I guess you were thinking of homicide, while fraud doesn't always end with a life sentence there are plenty that got one that would make sure they would spend all their life in jail, Norman Schmidt got 330 years for securities fraud, twice as much as Madooff for example.

SBF's only chance to get a reduced time in jail is those 7 billion recovered, if there had been no money left he would have for sure the maximum on all charges.

[ABCbits]

After spending 40-50 years in prison, when he is released he will be at the end of his life and will no longer have the capacity to commit crimes again.

With such prison time duration, that means he'll be released at 72-82 years old. We've seen there are some politician still active on politic at that age. So theorically he might have capacity to commit crime again, assuming he manage healthy lifestyle on prison.

[TomPluz]

He definitely deserve more fine. Although to me it's not clear whether DOJ suggest additional or reduction in prison time. Your opinion is greatly appreciated.

In my own opinion and had I been the judge of this case, I would be punishing SBF with 25 years in prison due to the severity of the things he had done with FTX which caused many people to lose money and lose confidence, trust with the cryptocurrency industry. I am sure that he will be getting many years in prison and be fined heavily once this case will be ending its saga. SBF has now become the very symbol of what can go wrong with a famous crypto exchange platform with a founder that do not understand well the very concept of accountability and responsibility with his actions. And let's hope that this FTX story will be a big lesson for many others not to follow.

[Zed0X]

The 50 years looks like the standard prison time for large scale frauds and ponzi scams (correct me if I'm wrong, the longest was 150 years for Bernie Madoff). SBF will be considered as lucky if he gets half of that.

[Charles-Tim]

With such prison time duration, that means he'll be released at 72-82 years old. We've seen there are some politician still active on politic at that age. So theorically he might have capacity to commit crime again, assuming he manage healthy lifestyle on prison.

I think if he has political ambition, that is lost already with what he did. Also that young people chase money than old people. 40 to 50 years in prison is not bad at all. This is crypto which are under regulated. This will serve as warning to other people. He will be lucky if the time he will sayy in prison is not more than that.

[bitbit97]

I would say that 40-50 years is not enough for a crime that he has made. Just think of all that damage he has done. The number of lives changed forever due to money lost in FTX. Imo he should have a life sentence and that will be an example and a lesson for everyone who plants to do money fraud. Even if he get 50, he will be released earlier due to good behavior and lawyer help. Which means he could repeat what he has done (because prison does not "fix" person, but raises new crimes).

[Stompix]

The 50 years looks like the standard prison time for large scale frauds and ponzi scams (correct me if I'm wrong, the longest was 150 years for Bernie Madoff).

For securities fraud and investments fraud the leader is Norman Schmidt with 330 years:
https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/co/news/2008/April08/4_29_08.html
It all depends on the counts and what prosecutors charge him with it, if they feel they can't get him guilty for something he might get away with a sentence but only for one aspect of his crime.

[Lucius]

As I have already written, it is crucial that he receives as large a sentence as possible, so that he would not use all the possibilities that the penal system provides - and as I see it, they (prisoners) can reduce their sentence in several ways by using "credit-earning programs, the parole process, or through special circumstances."

Any punishment he receives will still be a small satisfaction for all those who lost money thanks to him.

https://www.wikihow.com/Get-Early-Release-from-Prison

[Baofeng]

SBF lawyer's I will say is good to portray him as somewhat part of the victim here. I'm not on the side of SBF, but I'm seeing that maybe the most he will get from this trial is 20 years.

That's usually what the court gives sentences in the US and this could be another of this case. Specially if the lawyers of SBF can work out good deals for his victims for a reduce sentence.