Some of Sam Bankman-Fried’s victims say FTX founder got away lightly: ‘25 years is a joke’
- Customers said they are still owed more than US$19 billion and hoped for a stiffer punishment for the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul
- ‘I lost my happiness, my ability to get out of bed, my desire to continue living,’ a victim said
Some former FTX customers expressed anger and disappointment on Thursday after Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency exchange’s former billionaire boss, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing US$8 billion from customers.
“25 years is a joke,” a member of an FTX creditors group with the username Bruno Dixon wrote on messaging app Telegram minutes after the sentence was handed down by a New York judge.
Another member of the same Telegram group, going by Steven, said the sentence was “laughable for such a serious crime.”
More than an estimated 1 million customers face potential losses as a result of FTX’s sudden November 2022 collapse. Victims say they are still owed more than US$19 billion based on current cryptocurrency prices.
A New York jury last year found Bankman-Fried guilty of stealing from unsuspecting customers to prop up his hedge fund Alameda Research, buy luxury properties and fund political donations.
Prosecutors sought a sentence of 40 to 50 years for what they say was one of the biggest financial frauds in US history. Bankman-Fried’s defence has argued that around five years would be appropriate since customers would likely be made whole.