前加密货币大亨萨姆·班克曼-弗里德因诈骗 FTX 投资者而被判处 25 年监禁
【中美创新时报2024 年 3 月 28 日讯】（记者温友平编译）加密货币企业家萨姆·班克曼-弗里德（Sam Bankman-Fried）周四因大规模欺诈被判处 25 年监禁，该欺诈行为随着 FTX 的崩溃而瓦解。FTX 曾经是世界上最受欢迎的数字货币交易平台之一。美联社记者KEN SWEET 和 LARRY NEUMEISTER对此作了下述报道。
32 岁的班克曼-弗里德于 11 月被判犯有欺诈和共谋罪，他的成功顶峰包括超级碗广告以及四分卫汤姆·布雷迪、篮球明星斯蒂芬·库里和喜剧演员拉里·大卫等明星的名人代言，他的成功巅峰急剧下滑。
美国地区法官刘易斯·A·卡普兰 (Lewis A. Kaplan) 在曼哈顿同一法庭做出了这一判决，四个月前，班克曼·弗里德 (Bankman-Fried) 作证说，他的目的是用他的创新和无私的想法彻底改变新兴的加密货币市场，而不是窃取。
卡普兰表示，这一判决反映出“这个人将来有可能做出非常糟糕的事情”。而且这根本不是一个微不足道的风险。” 他补充说，这是“为了在相当长的一段时间内使他丧失能力”。
32 岁的班克曼-弗里德 (Bankman-Fried) 于 11 月被判犯有欺诈和共谋罪，与一年前相比，情况急剧下滑，当时他和他的公司似乎正处于成功的顶峰，导致超级碗广告和四分卫汤姆等明星的名人代言 布雷迪和喜剧演员拉里·大卫。
检察官表示，Bankman-Fried 挪用数十亿美元以寻求在新行业的影响力和主导地位，使客户、投资者和贷方损失超过 100 亿美元，并非法使用 FTX 储户的资金来支付他的开支，其中包括在加勒比地区购买豪华房产，涉嫌向中国官员和私人飞机行贿。
卡普兰周四与检察官一致认为，班克曼-弗里德不应仅仅因为一些投资者和客户可能收回部分损失的资金而获得宽大处理。他称这一论点“逻辑上有缺陷”且“具有推测性”。他表示，客户损失了约 80 亿美元，投资者损失了 17 亿美元，贷方则损失了 13 亿美元。
卡普兰还列举了三个例子，他得出结论，班克曼-弗里德在庭审作证期间犯下了伪证罪，其中包括班克曼-弗里德作证说，直到 FTX 破产破产前几周，他才知道客户资金被转移到对冲基金分支机构 FTX 的。
获得发言机会后，班克曼-弗里德站起来，在一份漫无目的的声明中道歉，他说：“很多人感到非常失望。他们非常失望。我对此感到抱歉。我对每个阶段发生的事情感到抱歉。”
他补充说：“我的使用寿命可能已经结束了。从我被捕之前开始，这件事已经结束了一段时间了。”
辩护律师马克·穆卡西 (Marc Mukasey) 表示，他的当事人被误解了。
“萨姆并不是一个每天早上都出发去伤害别人的无情的金融连环杀手，”穆卡西说。 “萨姆·班克曼-弗里德做决定时并没有恶意。他用脑子里的数学来做决定。”
陪审团发现，班克曼-弗里德非法使用 FTX 储户的资金来支付他的奢侈支出，当局称这些支出包括在加勒比海购买豪华房产、乘坐私人飞机、向政治候选人提供巨额慈善捐款和捐款，以及向中国官员行贿……
检察官建议判处 40 至 50 年监禁。
“多年来，被告在几大洲使数以万计的人和公司受害。他从委托给他的顾客那里偷钱；他对投资者撒谎；他向贷方发送伪造的文件；他向我们的政治体系注入了数百万美元的非法捐款；他还贿赂了外国官员。这些罪行中的每一项都值得判处长期徒刑，”检察官在一份法庭文件中表示。
班克曼-弗里德的律师、朋友和家人敦促宽大处理，称他不太可能再次犯罪。他们还表示，FTX 的投资者已大部分收回资金——这一说法遭到破产律师、FTX 及其债权人的争议。
“先生。班克曼·弗里德继续过着妄想的生活，”一直在清理破产公司的 FTX 首席执行官约翰·雷 (John Ray) 写道。 “他于 2022 年 11 月 11 日离开的‘企业’既不具备偿付能力，也不安全。”
两周前，穆卡西对缓刑办公室提出的 100 年监禁的建议进行了攻击，称这么长的刑期是“怪诞的”和“野蛮的”。
他敦促法官判处班克曼-弗里德 5 至 6 1/2 年监禁，穆卡西表示这是对联邦量刑指南的公正解读。
“萨姆不是媒体中描述的‘邪恶天才’，也不是审判中描述的贪婪的恶棍，”穆卡西说，并称他的当事人是“初犯，非暴力犯罪者”。
作为 FTX 的联合创始人兼首席执行官，Bankman-Fried 的账面身家达数十亿美元，FTX 一度是全球第二大加密货币交易所。
FTX 允许投资者购买数十种虚拟货币，从比特币到柴犬币等更不知名的货币。班克曼-弗里德手握数十亿美元的投资者现金，他拿出超级碗广告来宣传自己的业务，并购买了迈阿密一个体育场的冠名权。
但 2022 年加密货币价格暴跌对 FTX 造成了沉重打击，并最终导致其垮台。FTX 的对冲基金子公司 Alameda Research 购买了数十亿美元的各种加密货币投资，这些投资在 2022 年损失了大量价值。Bankman-Fried 试图用 FTX 客户资金填补 Alameda 资产负债表上的漏洞。
班克曼-弗里德核心圈子的另外三名人士承认了相关罪行，并在他的审判中作证。
这三人中最出名的是卡罗琳·埃里森（Caroline Ellison），她曾是班克曼·弗里德（Bankman-Fried）的女友。 埃里森将班克曼-弗里德描述为一个精于算计的人，他知道自己在指挥使用客户资金时可能会犯罪。 班克曼-弗里德的另外两名曾经的朋友加里·王（Gary Wang）和尼沙德·辛格（Nishad Singh）也作证说，他们认为自己是在班克曼-弗里德的指示下进行欺诈的。
题图：FTX 创始人 Sam Bankman-Fried 于 2023 年 7 月 26 日离开纽约联邦法院。MARY ALTAFFER/美联社
附原英文报道：
Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding FTX investors
By KEN SWEET and LARRY NEUMEISTER The Associated Press,Updated March 28, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy — a dramatic fall from a crest of success that included a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady, basketball star Stephen Curry and comedian Larry David.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed the sentence in the same Manhattan courtroom where, four months ago, Bankman-Fried testified that his intention had been to revolutionize the emerging cryptocurrency market with his innovative and altruistic ideas, not to steal.
Kaplan said the sentence reflected “that there is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future. And it’s not a trivial risk at all.” He added that it was “for the purpose of disabling him to the extent that can appropriately be done for a significant period of time.”
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy — a dramatic fall from a year earlier when he and his companies seemed to be riding a crest of success that resulted in a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady and comedian Larry David.
Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried had cost customers, investors and lenders over $10 billion by misappropriating billions of dollars to fuel his quest for influence and dominance in the new industry, and had illegally used money from FTX depositors to cover his expenses, which included purchasing luxury properties in the Caribbean, alleged bribes to Chinese officials and private planes.
Kaplan agreed with prosecutors Thursday that Bankman-Fried should not get leniency just because some investors and customers might get some of their lost money back. He called the argument “logically flawed” and “speculative.” He said customers lost about $8 billion, investors lost $1.7 billion and lenders were shorted by $1.3 billion.
Kaplan also cited three instances where he concluded that Bankman-Fried committed perjury during his trial testimony, including when Bankman-Fried testified that he didn’t know until just weeks before FTX collapsed into bankruptcy that customer funds were being diverted to a hedge fund offshoot of FTX.
Given a chance to speak, Bankman-Fried stood and apologized in a rambling statement, saying: “A lot of people feel really let down. And they were very let down. And I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage.”
He added that, “My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now, from before my arrest.”
Defense lawyer Marc Mukasey said his client was misunderstood.
“Sam was not a ruthless financial serial killer who set out every morning to hurt people,” Mukasey said. “Sam Bankman-Fried doesn’t make decisions with malice in his heart. He makes decisions with math in his head.”
A jury found that Bankman-Fried illegally used money from FTX depositors to cover his lavish spending, which authorities said included buying luxury properties in the Caribbean, flying on private jets, making outsized charitable donations and contributions to political candidates and paying bribes to Chinese officials.
Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years.
“The defendant victimized tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years. He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him; he lied to investors; he sent fabricated documents to lenders; he pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system; and he bribed foreign officials. Each of these crimes is worthy of a lengthy sentence,” prosecutors said in a court filing.
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys, friends and family had urged leniency, saying he was unlikely to re-offend again. They also said FTX’s investors have largely recovered their funds — a claim disputed by bankruptcy lawyers, FTX and its creditors.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried continues to live a life of delusion,” wrote John Ray, the CEO of FTX who has been cleaning up the bankrupt company. “The ‘business’ he left on November 11, 2022 was neither solvent nor safe.”
Two weeks ago, Mukasey attacked a probation office recommendation of 100 years in prison, saying a sentence of that length would be “grotesque” and “barbaric.”
He urged the judge to sentence Bankman-Fried to a term of five to 6 1/2 years in prison, which Mukasey said was a fair reading of federal sentencing guidelines.
“Sam is not the ‘evil genius’ depicted in the media or the greedy villain described at trial,” Mukasey said, calling his client a “first-time, non-violent offender.”
Bankman-Fried was worth billions of dollars on paper as the co-founder and CEO of FTX, which was the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world at one time.
FTX allowed investors to buy dozens of virtual currencies, from Bitcoin to more obscure ones like Shiba Inu Coin. Flush with billions of dollars of investors’ cash, Bankman-Fried took out a Super Bowl advertisement to promote his business and bought the naming rights to an arena in Miami.
But the collapse of cryptocurrency prices in 2022 took its toll on FTX, and ultimately led to its downfall. FTX’s hedge fund affiliate, known as Alameda Research, had bought billions of dollars of various crypto investments that lost considerable amounts of value in 2022. Bankman-Fried tried to plug the holes in Alameda’s balance sheet with FTX customer funds.
Three other people from Bankman-Fried’s inner circle pleaded guilty to related crimes and testified at his trial.
The biggest name among the three was Caroline Ellison, once the girlfriend of Bankman-Fried. Ellison described Bankman-Fried as a calculating individual who knew that he was likely committing crimes when he directed the use of customer funds. Two other onetime friends of Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, also testified they felt they were directed by Bankman-Fried to commit fraud.
