Sam Bankman-Fried is doing everything he can in a last-ditch effort to avoid a possible 110-year prison sentence.
The cryptocurrency fraudster brought in his parents, former FTX colleagues, law professors and Trump’s former lawyer in a bid to obtain a lenient sentence and in preparation to appeal his fraud conviction.
Bankman-Fried, 31, is currently awaiting sentencing inside the New York Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being found guilty of stealing from his clients at the now-closed cryptocurrency exchange he founded.
The former billionaire will be sentenced by Judge Lewis Kaplan on March 28, with a possible 110-year sentence at stake.
In addition to preparing an appeal, the former cryptocurrency mogul’s lawyers plan to file a legal memorandum in the US District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday, arguing that their client does not deserve to go to prison for the rest of his life.
Sam Bankman-Fried is seen leaving Manhattan federal court after his last appearance on February 16.
Bankman-Fried’s parents, Stanford University law professors Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, have been working on their son’s appeal for a lenient sentence.
Among those who speak sympathetically of Bankman-Fried before the judge is her former assistant Natalie Tien.
The appeal for leniency in sentencing is part of a long-term strategy to appeal the fraud conviction and change public perception of Bankman-Fried’s activities at the collapsed crypto exchange.
However, Miriam Baer, vice dean at Brooklyn Law School, has predicted that even if Kaplan decides not to impose the maximum sentence, he could still serve 30 years behind bars.
The judge ‘could still impose a very serious sentence given how young Mr Bankman-Fried is; say, a sentence of 30 or 35 years,” Baer told the New York Times.
Bankman-Fried hired attorney Marc Mukasey, who once represented Donald Trump, to oversee her sentencing and another attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, to handle the appeal.
Mukasey has earned a reputation as a showman in court.
Bankman-Fried’s parents, Stanford University law professors Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, have also been involved in the defense, helping gather people to write letters to their son that will be included in the memo.
Among those who speak sympathetically of Bankman-Fried before the judge is her former assistant Natalie Tien.
“I don’t hold a grudge against him and I feel bad for his parents,” Tien told the New York Times.
Bankman-Fried hired attorney Marc Mukasey, who once represented Donald Trump, to oversee her sentencing.
The photo, believed to have been taken on December 17, shows Bankman-Fried sporting a beard alongside former inmate G Lock, a former gang member.
Tien told the Times that a friend of Bankman-Fried contacted her a month ago and asked if she would consider helping with the sentencing memo.
She then received an email from Bankman-Fried’s parents, urging her to write “from the heart” about their son.
They were “like testing the waters,” Ms. Tien told the Times.
“I pretty much said ‘yes’ right away.”
Yale Law Professor Ian Ayres and Stanford Law Professor John Donohue, both friends of Bankman-Fried’s family, also wrote sympathetically in the memo.
“Whatever else may be said about Bankman-Fried, he was a brilliant businessman,” Ayres and Donohue wrote.
Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November of all seven counts of fraud against him. The jury took less than five hours to reach his verdict.
His conviction marked the end of his trial for $10 billion fraud linked to the spectacular collapse of his crypto empire in November 2022.
Former US President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bankman-Fried pictured at a panel discussion in May 2022
His parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, broke down when the guilty verdict against their son was read last year.
Prosecutors argued that Bankman-Fried built a “pyramid of deception” through FTX and its sister company Alameda Research to “steal” billions of dollars in assets from clients in search of “money, influence and power.”
At its peak, FTX was worth $32 billion and Bankman-Fried was hailed as the future of finance, appearing on the cover of Forbes magazine and on stages at events with the likes of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.
The ‘house of cards’ collapsed in 2022 amid falling cryptocurrency prices and media reports raising questions about how much of the $32 billion valuation was based on FTT, the token itself FTX crypto.
When customers attempted to withdraw their money, the crypto equivalent of a bank run was created and FTX closed.
Federal prosecutors quickly built their case against Bankman-Fried with the help of her inner circle, who accepted plea deals in exchange for cooperation.