FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is about to be sentenced, and FTX’s current CEO, John Ray, refuted SBF’s claim that investors had zero losses in the statement submitted to the court on Wednesday. Ray revealed that when he took over FTX, the exchange only had 105 bitcoins left, while customer claims amounted to nearly 100,000 bitcoins.
In early November last year, a jury found SBF, the founder of FTX, guilty on all 7 charges, including fraud and money laundering. He will be officially sentenced on the 28th of this month. The US prosecution submitted a sentencing memorandum to the Southern District of New York Court on the 15th, requesting a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years for SBF.
On Tuesday, SBF’s legal team countered, stating that a prison sentence of up to 50 years distorted reality. They argued that FTX had zero damages to customers, lenders, and investors, and that the assets remained intact. Each FTX user will receive full compensation plus interest for every dollar. Therefore, the judge should consider a maximum sentence of 6.5 years.
However, according to CoinDesk’s report, FTX’s current CEO, John Ray, refuted SBF’s lawyer’s claim of zero losses for customers during the 2022 crash, stating that these claims were “absolutely heartless and obviously wrong.”
In a victim impact statement written on behalf of FTX and its subsidiaries, John Ray told Judge Lewis Kaplan of the New York District Court that SBF’s delusional claims about FTX’s ability to pay were a misrepresentation of the company’s statement in January regarding the expected full reimbursement of customers. John Ray pointed out that FTX was now able to raise enough money to compensate customers due to the rise in the price of Bitcoin and tens of thousands of hours of hard work. However, this does not mean that SBF’s actions were not criminal. When he took over FTX, the exchange’s treasury was almost empty, with only 105 bitcoins left, while customer claims amounted to nearly 100,000 bitcoins.
John Ray further stated that although some lost assets have been recovered, other assets, including the “hundreds of millions of dollars” SBF bribed Chinese officials with and the money spent on various investments, such as money used to network with celebrities and politicians, can never be recovered.
FTX victims remain dissatisfied with the valuation of compensation. Furthermore, John Ray mentioned that despite the proposed compensation plan, many FTX users are still highly dissatisfied with the valuation of the assets to be compensated. As customers will be compensated based on the value of their investment portfolio at the time of bankruptcy, rather than the much higher current value, they “will never be able to recover the economic status they should have today if it weren’t for SBF’s massive fraudulent activities.”
Related reports:
– Prosecutors request 50-year imprisonment to deter FTX and similar frauds before SBF’s trial
– SBF becomes a prison companion! New York Post reveals: he is often humiliated and extorted, forced to eat expired food
– SBF appears in court for the first time with an anxious face! Newly hired lawyer also sues Celsius, raising suspicion of “conflict of interest” from the judge