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Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years for FTX Fraud. On March 28, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of defrauding users of FTX, the now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange. NBC reports that Lower Manhattan federal district Judge Lewis Kaplan found the defense's arguments misleading, speculative and logically flawed. The judge accused Bankman-Fried of committing obstruction of justice and tampering with witnesses while mounting his defense. Kaplan reportedly said that those factors played a role in his decision about how to sentence Bankman-Fried. Prosecutors had originally sought a longer sentence of 50 years, while the defense fought for Bankman-Fried to get no more than six and a half years. In November, Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven criminal counts. He has been held at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center while awaiting sentencing. At one time, FTX was valued at over $30 billion but ultimately collapsed in November of 2022 after announcing a major cash shortfall. While on trial, Bankman-Fried was accused of robbing FTX customers of nearly $8 billion, which was partially used to fund the extravagant lifestyles of the exchange's executives. NBC reports that Bankman-Fried's sentence is harsher than other white-collar crimes in recent memory, such as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes who received just 11 years. The outlet also notes that the judgement is more similar to the 25-year sentence given to former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers or the 24-year sentence given to Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT