The court is about to sentence the founder of FTX to prison, and the prosecutor advocates a 50-year sentence

The highly anticipated sentencing of former FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is expected to take place today at 13:30 (UTC).

According to CNBC reporter MacKenzie Sigalos, the sentencing proceedings for the FTX founder will be held in federal court in Manhattan, which is also the venue for all seven criminal charges that SBF was found guilty of last year.

Prosecutors have asked for a sentence of up to more than 100 years for SBF for his role in bringing about the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

After SBF was found guilty in November 2023, Judge Lewis Kaplan has been considering the appropriate punishment for the former FTX executive.

At the same time, prosecutors asked the judge to sentence SBF to 40 to 50 years in prison. In an effort to influence the judge before sentencing, prosecutors recently handed Kaplan a letter from FTX victims to put pressure on the judge.

The unidentified victim claims he lost 30 years of savings worth $4 million after FTX filed for bankruptcy in 2022. The father of two said the collapse of FTX and its sister hedge fund Alameda Research left him with a mixture of financial losses, happiness and the desire to move on with his life.

It’s worth noting that the court is already familiar with this type of story, as prosecutors used the same strategy last November to convince a jury that SBF had stolen at least $8 billion.

While prosecutors wanted SBF to be sentenced to 40 to 50 years in prison, the defense team asked for a maximum sentence of no more than six and a half years.

The defense is that FTX customers will be able to recover most, if not all, of their lost funds when the exchange collapses. It was first disclosed last month by the legal team representing the bankruptcy estate.

The attorneys stressed the company’s willingness to fully repay customers and creditors with valid claims. It is worth noting that the value of crypto assets held by crypto asset exchanges has risen sharply recently, so the possibility of FTX fully repaying victims has increased.

For example, Solana (SOL), one of the crypto assets in the FTX portfolio, has recently surged. When FTX crashed, the coin fell from $9 to its current price of $183.

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