Parent Of FTX Victim Who Lost $130K Recommends Six-Year Sentence For Sam Bankman-Fried, Countering DOJ's 40-50 Years

In the latest development in the FTX bankruptcy case, the parent of a victim who lost $130,000 has appealed to the judge for leniency in sentencing Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the collapsed crypto exchange, FTX.

What Happened: Heather Ferguson, whose son lost around $130,000 in the FTX bankruptcy in November 2022, has written to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. In her letter, she advocates for a sentence of about 70 months for Bankman-Fried’s role in the FTX collapse, CNBC reported on Thursday.

"The hope that customer funds will be reimbursed in some measures mitigates the severity of Sam's guilt, and it seems to me that the length of his sentence should reflect this fact,” she wrote.

Ferguson urged the judge to consider Bankman-Fried’s reported diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while sentencing. She added that his mental health condition caused his “poor judgment, but did not likely correlate with an intention to be malicious toward his clients."

Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven criminal charges against him, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering.

Why It Matters: The defense is making a final effort to sway Kaplan’s judgment towards leniency as Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing approaches this Thursday. The defense has submitted three letters in support of Bankman-Fried, while the prosecution has submitted over 50 letters, bringing the total victim impact statements to 117.

The FTX bankruptcy case has been a significant event in the cryptocurrency world. Recently, FTX had to sell a large portion of its 8% stake in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, raising $884 million. The primary buyer was ATIC Third International Investment Company, a tech investment firm wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, Mubadala.

Moreover, during the bankruptcy trial, FTX’s lawyers requested the bankruptcy judge to disregard claims for certain tokens tied to Bankman-Fried, often referred to as “Sam Coins” considering them worthless. The defense argued that the claims for specific tokens connected to Bankman-Fried should be significantly devalued.

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