In a scathing rebuke, FTX restructuring officer and CEO John Ray III has criticized an attempt by Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers to reduce his sentence, asserting that victims “have suffered and continue to suffer.”
Ray’s statement, directed to Judge Lewis Kaplan on behalf of FTX and its many creditor victims, seeks to correct what he believes are significant errors and omissions in Bankman-Fried’s submission related to his sentencing.
This includes disputing any claims made by Bankman-Fried’s legal team that may downplay the severity of the situation or the impact on those affected by his actions.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued on March 19 that the suggested 40-to-50-year sentence from U.S. prosecutors was too severe. Bankman-Fried, convicted on seven counts of fraud and money laundering last year, will be sentenced on March 28.
Prosecutors are pushing for a 40-to-50-year sentence, while Bankman-Fried’s defense is seeking a much shorter term, mainly because they expect FTX’s victims to be fully repaid through bankruptcy proceedings.
However, Ray disagreed, saying Bankman-Fried’s claims that FTX had money and no losses were completely untrue. Since taking charge in November 2022, Ray described the tough road ahead, detailing efforts to recover assets and guide the company towards a plan to benefit creditors.
He stressed that Bankman-Fried’s victims, including customers and creditors, will never fully recover from the significant losses and ongoing suffering caused by the massive fraud.
Ray pointed out that Bankman-Fried misrepresented the situation, and the victims won’t recover fully from his massive fraud. Because creditors will be paid based on their deposits at FTX’s bankruptcy in November 2022, those who held bitcoin then would get less than its current value.
Ray explained he couldn’t return the actual crypto because when he took over as CEO, there were only 105 bitcoins left, despite customers being entitled to nearly 100,000 bitcoins. He indicated that a jury concluded Bankman-Fried stole and converted them into other assets.
“There are plenty of things we did not get back,” the CEO said in his letter, “like the bribes to Chinese officials or the hundreds of millions of dollars he spent to buy access to or time with celebrities or politicians or investments for which he grossly overpaid having done zero diligence”.
Ray also revealed that while the damage caused by Samuel Bankman-Fried’s actions was extensive, the former CEO shows no signs of regret or guilt for his actions. Additionally, he criticized Bankman-Fried’s portrayal of himself as an effective altruist, suggesting that his claims of doing good for others were not genuine and were instead deceptive or insincere.
As the CEO of the company founded by SBF delivers a compelling testimony against him, the outcome of his sentencing becomes highly anticipated. The question remains: will he face a 50-year sentence, a lesser term, or potentially even more?
