Prosecutors want Sam Bankman-Fried to serve at least 40 years behind bars

Federal prosecutors want disgraced cryptocurrency wunderkind  Sam Bankman-Fried to serve up to 50 years behind bars, saying the massive scope of his crimes cry out for this lengthy prison sentence, court papers revealed Friday.

Bankman-Fried was convicted on all counts against him in a New York City federal courthouse on Nov. 2, as jurors held him responsible for fraud that wiped out the wealth of thousands of customers.

In theory he faces up to 110 years in prison, and federal prosecutors wrote that Bankman-Fried should do between 40 years and 50 years behind bars.

“The scope, duration, nature, and sheer number of Bankman-Fried’s crimes, the resulting harm they have caused, the willful disregard of the rule of law, and the absence of countervailing mitigating circumstances render him exceptionally deserving of a sentence that is sufficiently severe to provide justice,” according to a sentencing memorandum filed federal prosecutors.

Bankman-Fried, a co-founder of the digital currency exchange FTX, was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering that swindled customers of FTX and lenders to its affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Research.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced on March 28.

Bankman-Fried’s attorneys in February requested a sentence of just five to six years in prison, saying in a 98-page memo that he suffers from an array of neurological and personality issues that can’t be overcome.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.