After being accused of showing no remorse for his role in the disastrous collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, disgraced co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried expressed regret for the first time over the Easter weekend. expressed.
Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud, money laundering and conspiracy for a scandal that rocked the industry and cost customers about $8 billion, said in a series of emails that he was “remorseful” for his actions. said. But he again insisted that he always acted in good faith.
“I have never considered what I do to be illegal,” he said in a message to ABC News. “I tried to hold myself to high standards, but I certainly did not meet them.”
Bankman-Fried expressed empathy for the company’s former clients.
“I have heard and seen the despair, frustration and betrayal from thousands of customers,” he wrote. “They deserve to be paid in full at current prices.”
Bankman-Fried again insisted that the company had enough money to pay its debts.
“It could and should have happened in November 2020. And it could and should have happened today. “It is painful to see them waiting every day,” he wrote. “There are, and always have been, many assets that can repay customers, lenders and investors in full at current or current prices.”
Most of his claims are not new. At his trial on March 28, Bankman-Fried tried to make the case that he was a bad manager rather than a criminal, telling the court he had “made a series of bad decisions”.
“They weren’t selfish decisions. It was not a selfless decision. “It was a bad decision,” he said. “I failed everyone I cared about and everything I cared about.”
His defense attorney also argued there was a lack of criminal intent.
“Sam is at the other end of the culpability scale, talking about criminal fraud,” Bankman-Fried’s attorney said in his closing statement. “There was nothing predatory, predatory, corrupt, mercenary or exploitative in his actions.”
But FTX’s new CEO, John J. Ray III, never bought FTX, and neither did the jury. “Regrets do not exist. Effective altruism, at least as lived by Samuel Bankman-Fried, was a lie,” Ray said in a written statement.
“Why did Bitcoin disappear?” he wrote “The jury concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Bankman-Fried stole them and converted them. Therefore, we cannot return it in kind to the victims.”
Ray III has so far not recovered enough assets to pay creditors in full. But the current strength of the cryptocurrency market has done much to level the playing field, which Judge Lewis Kaplan said does not make the damage any less harmful.
“A thief who takes his loot to Las Vegas and bets on the stolen money cannot get his sentence reduced by using the winnings from Las Vegas to repay all or part of what he stole,” Kaplan said. wrote.
Bankman-Fried also expressed his willingness to make amends.
“I am tormented every day by what I have lost. “I never intended to harm anyone or take anyone’s money,” he said. “I would give anything I could to help repair even a portion of the damage. “I’m doing what I can in prison, but it’s so frustrating that I can’t do it anymore,” he said.
Bankman-Fried has decided to appeal his conviction, a process that could further extend the timeline for a final outcome in his case. He claims Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm representing FTX’s new ownership, played a negative role in the trial.
“Fundamentally, Sulkhrom’s role in the prosecution, the one-sided media frenzy they incited and the defense’s inability to secure key evidence at trial infected the entire process,” he told the broadcaster.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
