Before being sentenced to 25 years in prison, the final words SBF said in court were: "I'm sorry to my colleagues at FTX."
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, as reported by freelance journalist Inner City Press in a courtroom account. Here is the last statement made by SBF in court.
Latest update: FTX founder SBF sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Main creditor Sunil Kavuri first argued in court about the severity of the victims' losses and the lack of "full compensation." FTX sold off many assets at a low price, causing damage to the creditors' interests. It was then SBF's turn to speak...
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SBF Apologizes to FTX Colleagues
SBF stated that he agrees with most of what Sunil said, they were deprived of their interests, and have been waiting for a year and a half.
"What matters is my FTX colleagues. I've thrown away everything they built. They are disappointed. I'm sorry for that. I regret everything that happened at every stage. Things I should have done and said, things I shouldn't have done. I care about everything."
"They followed me all over, working until 2 a.m... I remember, there were so many people, Natalie became a master of the media operations department through self-study. She did the work of 10 people alone. I gave my brother a crazy idea on how to save lives." He mentioned former FTX PR head Natalie.
He then mentioned CTO Gary. "One day Gary sent me a link to a crypto exchange - the whole industry is rebuilding itself in the image Gary created. Many of the things he built have become industry standards."
SBF mentioned Alameda. "I received an anonymous message telling me how to fix it. Apparently it was from Nishad, who is famously humble. And Caroline, quite impressive, almost self-taught, she sought my advice on employee evaluations." He mentioned FTX former engineering director Nishad Singh and Alameda CEO Caroline.
SBF: "They put their hearts and souls into it, and then I abandoned everything. It haunts me every day. I made a series of mistaken decisions. These decisions were not selfish. These decisions, along with other factors, led to the crisis."
SBF Emphasizes Alameda and FTX Are Not Bankrupt
SBF stated that Alameda is not bankrupt, neither is FTX. However, Alameda's earnings were lost, and its leverage was higher than it should have been. We had to liquidate to cope with the outflow of funds from FTX. Then close it. FTX could have survived, Alameda couldn't. Those weeks were unpleasant.
SBF said, "I made a lot of mistakes. But that's not the end of the story. Customers were not compensated. FTX did not survive. Customers received conflicting claims. This caused a lot of damage. They could have been fully compensated."
SBF emphasizes there were enough assets, and it wasn't because of the rise in cryptocurrency prices. He admits there was a liquidity crisis, partly caused by him.
He admits that a few days after FTX went bankrupt, it was hacked, and Christina Rolle, an official from the Bahamas Securities Commission, came to FTX headquarters to ensure that funds would not further flow out until 3 a.m. that day.
"I'm the CEO of FTX, I'm its leader, which means ultimately I'm responsible. No matter how things went wrong, if you're the CEO, that's on you. I'm not the most important person in the end. I may have given my life meaning. I've long given what I could give. And I can't do that from prison."
SBF Acknowledges Inability to Influence Sentence, Emphasizes Still Trying to Help
SBF said, "I can't influence whether I get a 5-year or 40-year sentence. I know how the prosecutor sees me, as well as the court and the media."
"Ultimately, it looks like customers will be reimbursed at the current value of the assets. The same goes for lenders and investors. I guess I wish I could have done more to help with that, I think I failed in that regard."
"There's an opportunity to do what I think I'd do for the world, rather than what I ultimately did. If people can do their best for the world, I hope I can see their success, not just my failures. Thank you."
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