Parent of FTX victim who lost $130,000 asks judge to go easy on SBF, suggests six years in prison versus DOJ’s 40-50
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrives for a bail hearing at Manhattan Federal Court on August 11, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Heather Ferguson’s son lost approximately $130,000 in cash when crypto exchange FTX went bankrupt in November 2022. At the time, Ferguson traveled to where her child was living to spend four days consoling him. Since touching bottom, however, he has shown “resilience,” “confidence,” and a “determination to meet life’s challenges head on with renewed focus and vigor,” Ferguson wrote in a note to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Tuesday.
It helps that in January, her son was contacted by the entity overseeing the disbursement of FTX client funds and told that he would be refunded the full amount he was owed.
“I am writing to convey my hope that Sam Bankman-Fried will be given a sentence in the range of 70 months for his role in the collapse of FTX,” Ferguson wrote in her letter to the judge. “The hope that customer funds will be reimbursed in some measures mitigates the severity of Sam’s guilt, and it seems to me that the length of his sentence should reflect this fact.”
Ferguson’s letter is part of an eleventh hour push by the defense to appeal to Kaplan’s sense of leniency as the judge gears up for Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing on Thursday.
In November, a jury of twelve found the former crypto executive guilty of all seven criminal counts against him, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud against FTX customers and against Alameda Research lenders; conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodities fraud against FTX investors; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
That the jury was able to reach a unanimous verdict in just a few hours that FTX’s ex-CEO stole $8 billion from customers of his now bankrupt crypto exchange suggests that they were truly convinced and that there were no holdouts that needed to be coaxed, Yesha Yadav, law professor and Associate Dean at Vanderbilt University, previously told CNBC.
On Tuesday, the defense submitted three letters in support of Bankman-Fried, while prosecutors filed more than 50 letters of their own, bringing the total number of victim impact statements to 117.
The question of whether FTX customers being made whole through bankruptcy should influence the court’s decision over sentencing is a major point of contention.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Manhattan wrote in a memo to the court that Bankman-Fried should spend between 40 and 50 years in prison.
“Even now Bankman-Fried refuses to admit what he did was wrong,” the government wrote.
Even as the bankruptcy estate promises to pay back customers in full, many of FTX’s thousands of victims (reportedly up to a million) argue that their crypto stakes have been significantly undervalued by the exchange’s new leadership team.
Parents chime in
Ferguson was one of three concerned parents to write Kaplan, suggesting that Bankman-Fried’s emotional and behavioral disorders be taken into account as part of his deliberations over sentencing.
“Along the vein of mitigating factors, some mention should be made of Sam’s ASD and the afflictive emotions that stemmed from his ADHD and his medications,” Ferguson wrote. “These are relevant factors in his background which likely caused him to show poor judgment, but did not likely correlate with an intention to be malicious toward his clients.”
Bankman-Fried’s psychiatrist, George Lerner, told Judge Lewis Kaplan in a letter in August that the former FTX CEO has a history of depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. ADHD is among the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
“Additionally, there have been times when Mr. Bankman-Fried did not have access to the Emsam patch (typically when travelling/abroad) and exhibited symptoms of depression, including lethargy, anhedonia, low motivation, and increased ruminations,” Lerner wrote.
Without his medication, Lerner warned the judge, “Bankman-Fried will experience a return of his depression and ADHD symptoms and will be severely negatively impacted in his ability to assist in his own defense.”
At one point during Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial last year, the defense team also argued that he was not receiving adequate access to prescribed medication, including Adderall, a treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. And when initially remanded to custody, lawyers for Bankman-Fried argued that their client had a “limited” and “dwindling” supply of Emsam, a transdermal patch for treating depression.
Maria Centrella, the mother of a 34-year-old son with Asperger’s Syndrome, also wrote to Judge Kaplan to share her experience raising a child on the Autism spectrum.
“I have no opinion as to his guilt or innocence under the law, but do want to share with you my experiences with my son that hopefully might give you some pause to reflect on Sam’s behavior and mental state leading up to and during the trial,” wrote Centrella, who says that she was not familiar with Bankman-Fried’s story until she watched Michael Lewis’s “60 Minutes” interview, in which he shared anecdotes from shadowing Bankman-Fried as part of reporting a book about his life.
“As he described Sam I saw my son and kept wondering why Asperger’s never came up in the segment, because those of us knowledgeable about it, could see his behavior, his mannerisms … and his brilliance… as huge indicators of him being on the spectrum,” Centrella wrote.
She went on to say that she reached out to Bankman-Fried’s father, Joe, who confirmed that Sam had indeed been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum and that the court had been made aware.
“I have no idea how familiar you are with Asperger’s, particularly those who are out working and supporting themselves, but I can speak from experience that the mind of those on the spectrum works differently. Though I have never met Sam, I firmly believe that while he may be an MIT grad – he did not fully understand the scope of what was going on and did not have malicious intent,” she wrote.
Matt Kelly, who also has an autistic son and has worked as a special needs teacher in the UK, wrote a three paragraph letter to share his personal and professional observations that “might be of consideration when deciding a sentence.”
“Many of Sam’s personality traits suggest some type of atypical neurological processes; whether this is a tendency to avoid eye contact, a habit of being unable to focus on one thing at a time, or a lack of emotional response in a situation where most people would show outward signs of strain and distress,” wrote Kelly.
“He has also witnessed his ex-partner and associates testify against him in court, and to a
person with unusual processing, this may have been confusing and upsetting,” Kelly added. “I hope that account is taken of Sam’s abnormal presentation in your sentencing, so that retribution is in proportion to the degree of fault, and that account is taken of which type of institution would be most appropriate in the case of someone like Sam.”
MIT roommate: He did communal laundry “on time”
Two of Bankman-Fried’s former friends and roommates at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also submitted character references on his behalf.
Daniel Grazian, who graduated in 2013, says that he knew Bankman-Fried “well” for three years.
“Sam was a kind friend and a wonderful person to be around,” Grazian wrote in his letter to the court.
He goes on to say that Bankman-Fried “felt deeply for every living being, farm animals included” and that his portrayal as “being motivated by greed” was “completely inconsistent” with the Sam he knew.
“I believe that if Sam is given a lenient sentence, he will be an asset to society. If the fact that I still limit my meat consumption on ethical grounds is any indication, Sam will continue inspiring others to be a little bit kinder and gentler,” concludes Grazian’s letter.
Another classmate, Adam Hesterberg, who was part of the PhD class of 2018, had known Bankman-Fried before MIT, beginning at a math camp in 2007.
“In the time I knew him, Sam was responsible, was pleasant to be around, and cared about doing good for the world,” wrote Hesterberg in a letter to the judge.
One example he cited was Bankman-Fried’s role in executing house chores.
“Sam did his fair share of chores, usually by washing the pots and dishes used in cooking our meals and doing our kitchen laundry. He consistently did so well and on time; I only observed him late once, when a queue for the washing machine delayed the kitchen laundry,” the letter states.
Hesterberg went on to detail other instances of Bankman-Fried’s good nature, including wanting to “reduce farm animals’ suffering” and encourage his fellow classmates to donate to charitable causes, such as the Against Malaria Foundation.
“I don’t know to what extent a character reference from a decade ago should affect Sam’s sentencing, but to whatever extent it does, my impression of Sam was almost uniformly positive and is an argument for leniency in his sentence,” Hesterberg concludes.
National Grid Renewables has broken ground on its 100 MW Apple River Solar Project in Polk County, Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin solar farm, which will use US-made First Solar Series 6 Plus bifacial modules, will be constructed by The Boldt Company, creating 150 construction and service jobs. Apple River Solar will generate over $36 million in direct economic benefits over its first 20 years.
Once it comes online in late 2025, Apple River Solar will supply clean energy to Xcel Energy, which serves customers throughout the Upper Midwest. According to National Grid Renewables, the solar farm will generate enough energy to power around 26,000 homes annually. It will also offset about 129,900 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year – equivalent to taking 30,900 cars off the road.
“We are excited to see this project begin as it underscores our dedication to delivering clean, reliable and affordable energy to our customers,” said Karl Hoesly, President, Xcel Energy-Wisconsin and Michigan. “This project is an important step in those goals while bringing significant economic benefits to Polk County and the local townships.”
Electrek reported in February that Xcel Energy, Minnesota’s largest utility, expects to cut more than 80% – and possibly up to 88% – of its emissions by 2030, putting it on track to hit Minnesota’s goal of net zero by 2040. It also says it’s on track to achieve its clean energy goals for all the Upper Midwest states it serves – Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Michigan.
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Tesla has announced that it will finally deliver 500 kW charging as it is about to install its long-awaited V4 Supercharger cabinets.
The rollout of Supercharger V4 has been a strange one, to say the least.
Tesla has been deploying the new charging stations for two years and calling them “Supercharger V4”, but it has only been deploying the charging stalls.
Supercharger stations are made of two main parts: the stalls, which are where the charging cable is located, and the cabinets, which are generally located further back and include all the power electronics.
For all these new “Supercharger V4”, Tesla was actually using Supercharger V3 cabinets. This has been limiting the power output of the charging stations to 250 kW – although
Today, Tesla officially announced its “V4 Cabinet”, which the automaker claims will enable of “delivering up to 500kW for cars and 1.2MW for Semi.”
Here are the main features of the V4 Cabinet as per Tesla:
- Faster charging: Supports 400V-1000V vehicle architectures, including 30% faster charging for Cybertruck. S3XY vehicles enjoy 250kW charge rates they already experience on V3 Cabinet — charging up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.
- Faster deployments: V4 Cabinet powers 8 posts, 2X the stalls per cabinet. Lower footprint and complexity = more sites coming online faster.
- Next-generation hardware: Cutting-edge power electronics designed to be the most reliable on the planet, with 3X power density enabling higher throughput with lower costs.
Tesla reports that its first sites with the new V4 Cabinets are going into permitting now. The company expects its first sites to open next year.
We recently reported about Tesla’s new Oasis Supercharger project, which includes larger solar arrays and battery packs to operate the charging station mostly off-grid.
Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to all Supercharger stations, and Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.
While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.
Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:
It took about 8 years, but it sounds like the pieces are now getting actually in place with Supercharger V4, Megapacks, and this new Oasis project.
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Hyundai has a new secret weapon it’s about ready to unleash. To revamp the brand in China and counter BYD’s surge, Hyundai is launching a new AI-powered EV next year. The new model will be Hyundai’s first dedicated electric car for the world’s largest EV market.
With the help of Haomo, a Chinese autonomous startup, Hyundai will launch its first EV equipped with generative AI. It will also be its first model designed specifically for China.
A Hyundai Motor official said (via The Korea Herald) the company is “working to load the software” onto the new EV model, “which will be released in the Chinese market next year.” The spokesperson added, “The level of autonomous driving is somewhere between 2 and 2.5.”
In comparison, Tesla’s Autopilot is considered a level 2 advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the SAE scale (0 to 5), meaning it offers limited hands-free features.
With Autopilot, you still have to keep your eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel, or the system will notify you and eventually disengage.
Haomo’s system, DriveGPT, unveiled last spring, takes inspiration from the OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT.
The system can continuously update in real-time to optimize decision-making by absorbing traffic data patterns. According to Haomo, DriveGPT is used in around 20 models as it looks to play a bigger role in China.
Hyundai hopes new AI-powered EV boosts sales in China
Electric vehicle sales continue surging in China. According to Rho Motion, China set another EV sales record last month with 1.2 million units sold, up 50% from October 2023.
Over 8.4 million EVs were sold in China in the first ten months of 2024, a notable 38% increase from last year.
BYD continues to dominate its home market. According to Autovista24, BYD accounted for 32.9% of all PHEV and EV (NEV) sales in China through September, with over half of the top 20 best-selling EV models.
Tesla was second with a 6.5% share of the market, but keep in mind these numbers only include plug-in models (PHEV).
Like most foreign automakers, Hyundai is struggling to keep up with the influx of low-cost electric models in China. Beijing Hyundai’s sales have been slipping since 2017. Through September, Korean automaker’s share of the Chinese market fell to just 1.2%.
Last month, Hyundai opened its first overseas digital R&D center in China to help kick off its return to the region.
According to local reports, Hyundai is partnering with other local tech companies like Thundersoft, a smart cockpit provider, and others in China to power up its next-gen EVs
With its first AI-powered EV launching next year, Hyundai hopes to turn things around in the region quickly. The new model will be one of five to launch in China through 2026.
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