Bankman-Fried may face 'very long sentence' if convicted, judge says
SAM Bankman-Fried, the indicted founder of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, may face a “very long sentence” if convicted at his fraud trial starting next week, the judge overseeing the case said on Thursday (Sep 28).
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s comments came just before he denied the 31-year-old former billionaire’s request to be released from jail temporarily during the trial to better help his lawyers mount his defence case. Kaplan said Bankman-Fried was a flight risk.
“Your client in the event of conviction could be looking at a very long sentence,” the judge said in a hearing in the Manhattan federal court. “If things begin to look bleak … maybe the time would come when he would seek to flee.”
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy stemming from FTX’s collapse in November 2022. He faces a statutory maximum of 110 years in prison, though any sentence would be determined by Kaplan based on a range of factors, and he would likely get far less.
His lawyers asked Kaplan for temporary release earlier this week, arguing they could not speak with him after each trial day to prepare for the next day’s witnesses and testimony, which they could not do if he were taken back to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn at the end of each trial day.
Kaplan said on Thursday he was sympathetic to the defence’s concerns, and would arrange for Bankman-Fried to arrive to court at 7 am on most trial days to speak with his lawyers for several hours before testimony begins.
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Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to plug losses at Alameda Research, a crypto-focused hedge fund he controlled.
They opposed his request for temporary release. On Thursday, prosecutor Danielle Kudla told Kaplan that Bankman-Fried had “ample opportunity to prepare for trial” when he was free on bail for nearly eight months at his parents’ California home.
Kaplan jailed him on Aug 11, after finding he likely tampered with witnesses at least twice – including by sharing former Alameda chief executive officer Caroline Ellison’s private writings with a New York Times reporter.
Ellison, also Bankman-Fried’s former romantic partner, has pleaded guilty to fraud and is set to testify against him.
The trial starts on Oct 3 and could last up to six weeks. REUTERS
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