FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, once described as the “golden boy” of crypto, is set to stare down a jury next week for his role in the collapse of his $32 billion crypto exchange.
After a jury selection process on Oct. 3, the trial begins in earnest on Oct. 4, with Bankman-Fried staring down seven charges. If found guilty on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison.
However, the judge won’t likely go easy on him, crypto lawyers tell Cointelegraph.
Here’s a first look at the calendar for SBF’s criminal trial this October.
The former CEO of FTX has plead not guilty to all charges brought against him.https://t.co/xRA27iUwGJ pic.twitter.com/RqMJErDPMW
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) September 28, 2023
In mid-November last year, Bankman-Fried suffered one of the most rapid and public reputational declines of all time, when his crypto exchange and its sister hedge fund Alameda Research collapsed and filed for bankruptcy, leaving a $10 billion hole in its wake.
Life behind bars?
Now less than a week out from the trial, Michael Kanovitz, partner at Loevy & Loevy law firm, told Cointelegraph that things don’t look particularly good for Bankman-Fried.
He predicts that if the government finds him guilty of committing fraud, he’s likely looking at spending the rest of his life behind bars.
“If he’s found guilty, I think he will get the maximum sentence.”
Kanovitz explained that courts look mainly at the severity of the crime and how the defendant behaved during the judicial process when handing down a sentence.
“If the government can prove he knowingly stole billions of dollars and destroyed documents to cover it up, that pushes the sentence toward the high end of the range,” he said.
WSJ called SBF a savior… ♂️ pic.twitter.com/ecNanSREIP
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) September 26, 2023
Kanovitz also noted that courts reserve some discretion to be lenient during sentencing if the defendant “behaves themself” before the court. However, Kanovtiz believes Bankman-Fried hasn’t been doing that.
“SBF hasn’t done himself any favors here, as the court already found cause to believe that he was tampering with witnesses.”
“That’s very bad. Also, there is not a lot of ‘mitigation’ going the other way. He did donate to charity, but they don’t give you credit for being charitable with other people’s money,” Kanovtiz said.
Slightly less resolute than Kanovitz, Jeremy Hogan, Partner at Hogan & Hogan told…
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