Bankman-Fried’s legal team argues for leniency, citing philanthropy and character 

by Heber Wilkinson

Sam Bankman-Fried will be support in court docket subsequent month, this time inquiring for leniency. The disgraced founder of FTX used to be convicted of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy excellent year.

Bankman-Fried’s crew is proposing the extinct billionaire motivate between 63 and 78 months in penal complex, per a memo filed by attorneys leisurely Tuesday. His convictions lift a most sentence of 110 years.

“Sam is no longer the ‘harmful genius’ depicted in the media or the greedy villain described at trial. He’s a 31-year-feeble son, brother, buddy, humanitarian and philanthropist,” the memo states, along side that Bankman-Fried is “deeply, deeply sorry” for “the disaster he triggered.”

The nearly 400-internet page document filed proper before nighttime contains 29 letters of strengthen from individuals along side Bankman-Fried’s family, extinct workers, doctors and victims of his fraud.

The letters focus on Bankman-Fried’s character, along side anecdotes from his life before FTX and philanthropic efforts he advanced as head of the alternate.

His mom, Barbara Fried, writes just a few time in college when Bankman-Fried comforted a grieving buddy. Kat Woods, a extinct FTX customer, informed the court docket that whereas she has “been harmed immensely” by Bankman-Fried’s actions, the disgraced founder “clearly isn’t harmful.”

Loads of writers mention his vegan weight loss program and restrained standard of living.

“At the same time as a billionaire, he drove the most fundamental automobile that used to be available,” Dr. George Lerner, Bankman-Fried’s psychiatrist wrote. “He wore veteran t-shirts and shorts. He cooked most of his possess meals, on the total frying Dealer Joe’s vegan meat with sparse vegetables, making enough for any housemates or fall-ins who had been round.”

Bankman-Fried has opted to shake up his factual crew since his conviction excellent November. He retained Marc Mukasey and Torrey Young excellent month, a switch resolve Lewis Kaplan authorized excellent week after making obvious Bankman-Fried used to be responsive to his factual to “battle free illustration.”

Mukasey and Young furthermore checklist Alex Mashinsky, the extinct CEO of now-shuttered Celsius who’s scheduled to stand prison trial in New York in January 2025.

Sign Cohen, Christian Everdell and their colleagues, who represented Bankman-Fried thru his trial, withdrew from the case earlier this month.

Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 28 in New York.

Extinct FTX director of engineering Nishad Singh, who cooperated with prosecutors as a leer in opposition to Bankman-Fried, is slated to be sentenced in November. Extinct FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame, who pleaded responsible and did no longer cooperate as a leer, used to be in the origin scheduled to be sentenced ahead of Bankman-Fried however his hearing used to be moved excellent week to Could well perhaps furthermore just 1.

Assorted cooperating witnesses along side extinct Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and extinct FTX Chief Technology Officer Gary Wang possess no longer yet had sentencing hearings scheduled.

Bankman-Fried is currently in the Metropolitan Detention Heart, where he has been since his bail used to be revoked in August 2023.

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