A US federal decide within the Southern District of New York has sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried, founding father of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, to 25 years in jail. In addition, Bankman-Fried has been ordered to forfeit $11 billion.

Last November, on the finish of a month-long trial, Bankman-Fried—recognized colloquially as SBF—was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in reference to the collapse of FTX.

The trade had fallen to pieces in November 2022 after operating dry of funds with which to course of buyer withdrawals. The cash was lacking, the jury concluded, as a result of Bankman-Fried had performed an elaborate fraud whereby billions of {dollars}’ price of consumer funds was swept right into a sibling firm and used to bankroll high-risk buying and selling, enterprise bets, debt repayments, private loans, political donations, and a lavish life in the Bahamas.

In a court filing, the US authorities described the affair as “one of the largest financial frauds in history.” Bankman-Fried had demonstrated “unmatched greed and hubris” and a “brazen disrespect for the rule of law,” it mentioned.

“The judgment has to adequately reflect the seriousness of the crime. This was a very serious crime,” mentioned Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the case, earlier than delivering the sentence. He cited the “enormous harm” inflicted by Bankman-Fried, the “brazenness of his actions,” and “his incredible flexibility with the truth.”

Kaplan additionally criticized Bankman-Fried for his conduct on the witness stand throughout trial. Not solely did Bankman-Fried perjure himself, the decide claimed, he was additionally “evasive” and “hairsplitting” in his responses to the prosecution’s questions. “I’ve been doing this job for almost 30 years, and I’ve never seen a performance quite like this,” mentioned Kaplan.

As Bankman-Fried obtained the sentence, he stood together with his head lowered and arms collectively, an incongruously placid expression on his face.

The sentencing completes a remarkable fall from grace. Between 2019 and 2022, Bankman-Fried steered FTX to a $32 billion greenback valuation, turning into for a time the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. The 32-year-old fraternized with regulators, politicians, sports activities stars, and supermodels. He gained the adoration of enterprise capitalists, who fawned over him, and the media, which lionized him because the “next Warren Buffett” and the “Michael Jordan of crypto.” Privately, Bankman-Fried reportedly told others that he aspired to be the President of the United States.

In his sentencing assertion, Judge Kaplan cited political aspiration as one of many underlying motives of Bankman-Fried’s crime, pointing to his huge contributions to candidates on each the left and proper as “the biggest political financial crime in history.”

“He wanted to be a hugely politically influential person in this country,” Kaplan mentioned. “The goal was power and influence.”

Instead of that political future—at the least for years to return—Bankman-Fried will probably be consigned to a far much less illustrious life in jail.

In contemplating the suitable sentence for Bankman-Fried, the decide was required to keep in mind a mix of things past the main points of the underlying crimes. Those embody the extent of the monetary losses dealt upon the victims, the defendant’s character and historical past, whether or not any obstruction of justice had taken place, the probability of recidivism, and so forth.