Posted by Navith Rangel
It is no secret that the FTX debacle has been rather scandalous to say the least. Defrauding millionaires and enlisting in A-List celebrities to promote his cryptocurrency, Sam Bankman-Fried definitely did not think that being convicted of fraud was in his list of possibilities. Oftentimes in America, white collar crime goes unpunished, but in the case of Bankman-Fried, this is a twisted and conniving tale. The article that I decided to choose details the case and provides background knowledge surrounding Bankman-Fried, especially his pretrial antics.
FTX was a company that had a meteoric rise, confiding in the likes of Tom Brady and Stephen Curry to help promote this new cryptocurrency. However, just as fast as the rise, the collapse began and it turned out that this new cryptocurrency was actually broke, and could not pay their investors. As a result, the company went bankrupt and all fingers got pointed to founder Bankman-Fried, as the alleged exuberant amount of money being made just somehow disappeared. In turn, Bankman-Fried was then indicted on fraud charges and put behind bars for his crimes. In the article it details that Bankman-Fried performed multiple “antics” which ultimately will haunt him following this massive sentencing. After being arrested in the Bahamas last December, the article states, “The FTX co-founder has ‘shown a willingness and a desire to risk crossing the line in an effort to get right up to it, no matter where the line is,’ Kaplan said during a July hearing. Prosecutors had previously raised concerns about Bankman-Fried’s use of encrypted messaging app Signal to contact FTX’s US general counsel and suggest they “vet things together.” Kaplan called it an attempt at witness tampering” (Bultman 2023). These wild tactics thus has put Bankman-Fried into hot water with prosecutors and the judge and can ultimately affect his final sentencing. The enormous amounts of money additionally tied into the case can also result in a bloated sentencing and the article predicts it to be the maximum amount of life sentences. The article then compares this case with other high-profile white collar crime cases and the sentencing given out. In the case of Enron and their CEO Jeffrey Skilling, he was sentenced to 24 years, but after an appeal was brought down to 14 years. Another example the article uses is the case of Bernie Madoff and his billion dollar Ponzi scheme which yielded a sentencing of 150 years, the maximum. By bringing up these examples, the article’s author helps paint the sentencing picture and try to predict where Bankman-Fried could fall after all this.
Ultimately, I chose this blog post for the mere fact of the refreshing sight of a millionaire being held accountable for their crimes. Too often have we seen white collar criminals get off with lenient sentences and Bankman-Fried’s condescending and smug actions have resulted in him now paying the price. Although at the end of the article it states that the Judge presiding over the case has no empirical basis and in many cases has given lenient sentences, I have no doubt in my mind that Bankman-Fried will most likely see close to a maximum sentence. The high profile nature of the case and the amount of money lost, culminated with Bankman-Fried not doing himself any favors with his antics, the sentencing should be a lengthy one.
Navith is a political science major at the College of Arts and Sciences, Seton Hall University, Class of 2024.