Disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in
prison Thursday, but the convicted fraudster could be out in half that time. The 32-year-old was sentenced to more than two decades in prison in Manhattan after being found guilty of stealing more than $8 billion from FTX customers. Federal crimes are not eligible for parole, however, Bankman-Fried could shave off a considerable amount of time — perhaps as high as 40 or 50% — with good behavior and completing prison rehabilitation programs, said Mark Bini, a veteran prosecutor turned defense lawyer at white-shoe law firm Reed Smith. This means the fallen crypto king could serve as little as 12.5 years. Bankman-Fried would qualify for a sentence reduction under the federal First Step Act, signed into law by
President Trump in 2018, because he’s a non-violent offender and this is his first conviction. However, if “he shoots himself in the foot as he has done in the past, he’s going to do the whole 25 years,” Bini told The Post, referring to how Bankman-Fried breached the terms of his release while on bail when he leaked the personal writings of his former lover and business associate Caroline Ellison to a
New York Times reporter. Another way the entrepreneur could have his sentence reduced is by the court for extraordinary reasons, such as medical issues, former prosecutor Jordan Estes told
CNN. “Since the pandemic, courts have been more willing to grant early release under this provision if the defendant has served a substantial portion of his or her sentence,” Estes said. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan suggested that Bankman-Fried — who is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — be sentenced to serve his time in a medium-security prison near his family’s home in Northern
California. He added that the federal Bureau of Prisons could also send the convicted fraudster to “any lower security prison that they could consider appropriate” — raising the possibility that Bankman-Fried could do his time at a far more comfortable low-security prison, like Ghislane Maxwell and Todd Chrisley, rather than a medium-security one. Judge Kaplan said Bankman-Fried should not be sent to a maximum security prison, citing the non-violent nature of his crimes. The Bureau of Prison did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They are expected to decide where Bankman-Fried will go in the next few months. Bankman-Fried was also ordered to pay $11 billion and forfeit assets that could be used to pay the hefty fine. Ahead of his sentencing, the fraudster apologized before the judge for making “bad decisions” and failing “everyone I care about.” “At the end of the day, I failed everyone that I care about and everything that I care about, too,” he said Thursday. “A lot of people feel really let down and, I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage.” His company, FTX, hit $40 billion at its peak and even had celebrities endorsing it.