SBF demands a prison sentence of 6.5 years and tells prison guards to invest in Solana

The legal advisor to Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the crypto exchange FTX, has filed a request with the United States District Court in Manhattan to impose a prison sentence ranging from five and a quarter to six and half a year.

The request comes after Bankman-Fried’s conviction in November last year, in which he was found guilty of multiple charges of fraud and money laundering, which carried a maximum prison sentence of 110 years.

The sentence is expected to be announced at the end of March

Bankman-Fried was charged with a series of crimes, including bank fraud, bank fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, commodity fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, in charge of the case, is expected to announce the final sentence on March 28.

Federal prosecutors are expected to submit their sentencing recommendations on March 15. However, the Pre-sentence Investigation Report (PSR) has already recommended a 100-year prison sentence for the former CEO of FTX.

FTX’s attorneys have blasted the recommended 100-year sentence as “barbaric,” given that Bankman-Fried is a first-time offender with no criminal record. They emphasized that he did not act alone, but was assisted by at least four other guilty individuals, in a case where the victims could be fully compensated.

Damage to customers, among others, is virtually nil

The legal advisor emphasized that the damage to customers, lenders, and investors is zero, as FTX’s bankruptcy estate is expected to fully reimburse customers. Letters from friends and family were also cited pleading for a milder sentence.

Bankman-Fried has been in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since last summer, where several stories about his prison time have emerged. Most recently, The New York Times reported that Bankman-Fried has offered trading and investment advice to fellow inmates and guards, encouraging them to invest in Solana’s SOL, a crypto token with which he is closely associated.

FTX, once valued at $32 billion, collapsed in November 2022, with Bankman-Fried found guilty of mismanaging $8 billion in customer funds and several other fraudulent activities.