Sam Bankman-Fried asks for lenient sentence, points to FTX fund recovery

foxbusiness.com:

Moses Singer LLP partner Howard Fischer tells ‘The Claman Countdown’ that both sides in Sam Bankman-Fried’s case will ‘make good arguments.’

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyer on Tuesday requested that a judge give a lenient sentence following his client's conviction for stealing $8 billion from customers of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, claiming that FTX's clients would have most of their funds returned.

Lawyer Marc Mukasey told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a sentencing submission that a guidelines range of five and a quarter to six and a half years would be an appropriate prison term. Mukasey's suggestion is significantly less than the maximum sentence of 110 years he could face after a jury found him guilty in November on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.

Bankman-Fried, 31, pleaded not guilty and is expected to appeal his conviction and sentence. He acknowledged making mistakes running FTX but testified at trial that he never meant to steal funds from his customers.

Kaplan is scheduled to sentence Bankman-Fried on March 28.

SAM BANKMAN-FRIED FOUND GUILTY ON FRAUD CHARGES

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyer on Tuesday requested that a judge give a lenient sentence following his client's conviction for stealing $8 billion from customers. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Mukasey's submission was accompanied by letters of support from Bankman-Fried's parents, a psychiatrist and others.

The former billionaire's parents, Stanford law professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, said their son was not interested in material wealth and worked hard to return money to customers in the time between FTX's collapse in November 2022 and his arrest on fraud charges a month later.

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