How SBF's 25 year prison sentence stacks up against other notorious fraudsters: ... trends now
Sam Bankman-Fried has finally learned his fate following his conviction for stealing $8 billion from his cryptocurrency customers.
The disgraced entrepreneur was facing up to 110 years in prison following the stunning collapse of trading forum FTX.
On Tuesday he filed an 11th hour plea for mercy, with friends submitting letters calling for leniency in his sentence.
Prosecutors had recommended Bankman-Fried be jailed for between 40 to 50 years for his crimes.
But during sentencing at Manhattan on Thursday, he was handed just 25 years - a relatively light punishment in the scheme of things.
Sam Bankman-Fried has finally learned his fate following his conviction for stealing $8 billion from his cryptocurrency customers
The disgraced entrepreneur was facing up to 110 years in prison following the stunning collapse of trading forum FTX
The fraudster was also ordered to pay back $11 billion in restitution.
However, for his critics and crucially his victims, the sentence is not enough.
Handing down the punishment federal judge Lewis Caplan himself noted that, 'there is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future. And it's not a trivial risk at all.
'He knew it was wrong,' Kaplan said. 'He knew it was criminal. He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught. But he is not going to admit a thing, as is his right.'
The sentence seems even more lenient compared to some of the jail terms handed out to similarly notorious fraudsters.
So how does SBF's sentence compare to the rest?
Bernie Madoff
Bernie Madoff's image as a self-made financial guru all came crashing down in 2008 after his investment advisory business was exposed as a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme
He was convicted of money laundering and securities fraud and sentenced to 150 years in prison where he ultimately died in 2021
Madoff, the man behind the biggest and most devastating Ponzi scheme in history, that robbed tens of thousands of victims worldwide of $65 billion.
He went from a high-flying Wall Street financier to living out his dying days in a North Carolina prison.
Madoff's world came crashing down in 2008 after his investment advisory business was exposed as a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that had eradicated people's fortunes - both rich and poor - and destroyed charities and foundations worldwide.
He was convicted of money laundering and securities fraud and sentenced to 150 years in prison where he ultimately died in 2021.
Elizabeth Holmes
Holmes, then 29, is photographed holding a nanotainer of blood at Theranos headquarters in Palo Alto, California, in 2014 before her conviction for fraud
