Will Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentence be commuted for pleading guilty
2022.12.30 06:07
Will Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentence be commuted for pleading guilty
Budrigannews.com – If Sam Bankman-Fried enters a guilty plea rather than going to trial, he may not be able to offset the two counts of wire fraud and six counts of conspiracy he faces with the credits he will receive.
Mark Kasten, a lawyer in Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney’s Blockchain and Crypto Assets practice group, argued that Bankman-Fried would be “unlikely to receive a favorable deal from prosecutors.” Bankman-Fried is scheduled to appear in court in the first days of January to enter a plea.
Kasten explained to Cointelegraph that in order to receive credit for cooperation, the government frequently requires defendants to assist in the prosecution of others. Bankman-Fried won’t be able to point the finger at anyone here, Kasten said.
According to Kasten, Bankman-Fried could also agree to something called an “open plea,” which means that “prosecutors did not agree to recommend a specific sentence.” This is similar to what Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang did. This leaves the judge to decide the defendant’s punishment.
Money laundering, conspiracy to break campaign finance laws, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and conspiracy to defraud customers and lenders are among the charges leveled against Bankman-Fried. He could be sentenced to 115 years in prison if he is found guilty.
John Ray stated to the United States House Financial Services Committee that he had never witnessed “such a utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization, from the lack of financial statements to a complete failure of any internal controls or governance whatsoever” while serving as CEO of FTX during the bankruptcy proceedings.
Ray added that the collapse of the exchange was caused by the “concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals.”
The Southern Region of New York will hear Bankman-Broiled on Jan. 3 under the steady gaze of Judge Lewis Kaplan — an adjudicator with a standing for being direct and effective. After judge Ronnie Abrams resigned due to conflicts of interest, Kaplan was given the case. Davis Polk & Wardwell, the law firm that advised FTX in 2021, has Abrams’ husband as a partner.
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