New FTX CEO says Sam Bankman-Fried 'living life of delusion' ahead of sentencing
FTX CEO John Ray says former crypto king Bankman-Fried not living in reality
Kelly O’Grady on SBF guilty verdict: FTX founder’s ‘hubris was on display’
FOX Business’ Kelly O’Grady reports on the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried after the former FTX CEO was found guilty on seven counts of criminal fraud.
FTX co-founder and former chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried is not living in reality with his claims that the bankruptcy of his cryptocurrency exchange was not necessary and that he did not steal from customers, new CEO John Ray said Wednesday.
"Mr. Bankman-Fried continues to live a life of delusion," Ray wrote in a Manhattan federal court filing ahead of the former billionaire's sentencing set for next week. "There should be no delusion that because assets have increased in value or that the professionals have been able to recover funds and assets taken or stolen from the estate, that there was no need for the Chapter 11 cases."
Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former CEO of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, speaks during the Institute of International Finance annual membership meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 13, 2022. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Ray made the comments in a victim response statement after a filing from Bankman-Fried's defense team the day before, when the attorneys requested U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan give their client a lenient sentence following his conviction for stealing $8 billion from customers of the now-bankrupt exchange, claiming that FTX's clients would have most of their funds returned.
SAM BANKMAN-FRIED ASKS FOR LENIENT SENTENCE, POINTS TO FTX FUND RECOVERY
Ray, who helped manage Enron after the energy trader's 2001 bankruptcy, said Bankman-Fried's theft meant many accounts had fewer assets than customers wanted to believe.
John Ray, CEO of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing investigating the collapse of FTX in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13, 2022. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
He also said FTX equity investors, whom Bankman-Fried was also convicted of conspiring to defraud, were unlikely to recover significant sums in the bankruptcy.
PROSECUTORS WANT A 40- TO 50-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR SAM BANKMAN-FRIED
Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November on two counts of wire fraud and five conspiracy counts. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 110 years behind bars, and his sentencing is scheduled for Thursday.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is cross-examined by U.S. Assistant Attorney Danielle Sassoon in federal court in New York on Oct. 30, 2023. (Jane Rosenberg)
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 40 to 50 years in prison, while the defense is arguing a 5¼- to 6½-year prison term would be appropriate.
FOX Business' Landon Mion and Reuters contributed to this report.