Photo: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images News / Getty Images
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York sentenced disgraced FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for defrauding his cryptocurrency company's customers and lenders out of billions of dollars.
Prosecutors were seeking between 40-50 years in prison, while Bankman-Fried's lawyers asked for a sentence of no more than six years.
Before the sentence was handed down, Bankman-Fried apologized in court to his victims.
"A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down, and I am sorry about that," he said. "I am sorry about what happened at every stage. And there are things I should've done and things I shouldn't have."
"I'm not the one that matters at the end of the day — it's the customers and employees affected that matter," he said.
"My useful life is probably over. It's been over for a while now," Bankman-Fried told the court.
Before handing down the sentence, Judge Kaplan noted that Bankman-Fried's scam cost his victims roughly $11 billion, a sum unlikely to be repaid in full.