FTX Founder SBF Appeals for 6.5-Year Term, Encourages Prison Staff to Consider Investing in Solana

The legal representative for Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, has submitted a memorandum to the United States District Court in Manhattan, requesting a prison sentence ranging from five and a quarter to six and a half years. SBF was convicted of fraud and money laundering charges last November and could face a maximum sentence of 110 years. The charges against SBF include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, commodities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. The federal judge overseeing the case, Lewis A. Kaplan, is set to announce the sentence on March 28. While federal prosecutors are expected to present their sentencing recommendations on March 15, the Pre-sentence Investigation Report (PSR) has recommended a 100-year sentence for SBF. However, FTX’s legal team argues that this proposed sentence is excessive, considering that SBF is a first-time offender with no prior criminal history and that other individuals were involved in the misconduct. They also emphasize that the victims in this case are expected to be fully compensated. Numerous letters from friends and family supporting a lenient sentence have been submitted as well. SBF has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since last summer. Reports have emerged detailing various incidents during his time in jail, including trading mackerel for a haircut and being extorted for protection. According to The New York Times, SBF has now been offering trading and investment advice to fellow inmates and even asking prison guards to invest in the cryptocurrency token Solana’s SOL, with which he has a long history. FTX was once one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, valued at $32 billion in January 2022, before its collapse in November that same year. SBF was found guilty of mismanaging $8 billion in customer funds and committing multiple acts of fraud.