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Disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of stealing billions of dollars from his customers.

He was the chief executive of FTX, which suddenly went bankrupt in November 2022 – leaving millions of users frozen out of their accounts and unable to make withdrawals.

The 32-year-old American could have faced up to 100 years behind bars – but last month, his lawyers argued such a sentence would have been “barbaric” and a five-year term would be more appropriate.

Initial reports said he had been sentenced to 20 years – but this has since been corrected to 25.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to jail Bankman-Fried for 40 to 50 years, arguing the public needed protecting from the fraudster and a harsh punishment would deter other criminals.

“The defendant victimised tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years,” prosecutors said in a court filing.

“He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him; he lied to investors; he sent fabricated documents to lenders; he pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system; and he bribed foreign officials. Each of these crimes is worthy of a lengthy sentence.”

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Prosecutors also said Bankman-Fried had cost customers, investors and lenders over $10bn (£7.9bn) by misappropriating funds to fuel his quest for influence and dominance in the new industry, and had illegally used money from FTX depositors to cover his expenses, which included purchasing luxury properties in the Caribbean, alleged bribes to Chinese officials and private planes.

At the sentencing hearing in Manhattan, Judge Lewis Kaplan said the businessman lied on the witness stand when he insisted he had no knowledge of customer funds being used this way.

The judge also described Bankman-Fried’s claim that victims will be paid back in full as “misleading and logically flawed”.

“A thief who takes his loot to Las Vegas and successfully bets the stolen money is not entitled to a discount on the sentence by using his Las Vegas winnings to pay back what he stole,” Judge Kaplan warned.

Crypto king’s jail term is end of an era

Sam Bankman-Fried was breathlessly described as a wunderkind – a boy wonder transforming the world of finance.

Renowned for his messy hair and unkempt appearance, he graced the covers of Forbes and Fortune, who pondered whether he could become the next Warren Buffett.

The 32-year-old was the founder of FTX, which had quickly become the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange – a place where investors could buy and sell digital assets like Bitcoin.

Star-studded adverts featuring the tennis player Naomi Osaka and the comedian Larry David added to its allure – with eye-watering sums spent on sponsorship deals.

But in November 2022, Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire came crashing down after it emerged that customer funds worth $10bn (£7.9bn) was missing.

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The judge said that the sentence reflected “a risk that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future”.

“And it’s not a trivial risk at all.”

He added that it was “for the purpose of disabling him to the extent that can appropriately be done for a significant period of time”.

Before he was sentenced, Mr Bankman-Fried apologised in a rambling statement.

FILE PHOTO: Indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the United States Courthouse in New York City, U.S., July 26, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Photo
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Sam Bankman-Fried leaving court last July. Pic: Reuters

“A lot of people feel really let down. And they were very let down. And I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage,” he said.

“My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now, from before my arrest.”

Judge Kaplan said he would advise the Federal Bureau of Prisons to send him to a medium-security prison or less near the San Francisco area because he’s unlikely to be a physical threat to other inmates or prison staff, and his autism and social awkwardness would make him vulnerable to other inmates in a high-security location.

Read more:
The meteoric rise and even sharper fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

Why industry may never recover from downfall of ‘crypto king’

It took just five-and-a-half hours for a jury in New York to convict him of two counts of fraud and five of conspiracy last November.

Three people from Bankman-Fried’s inner circle – including his former girlfriend Caroline Ellison – pleaded guilty to related crimes and testified at his trial.

Sam Bankman-Fried's colleague and on-off girlfriend Caroline Ellison testified against him. Pic: Reuters
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Sam Bankman-Fried’s colleague and on-off girlfriend Caroline Ellison testified against him. Pic: Reuters

Bankman-Fried’s conviction followed a dramatic fall from grace from his time as chief executive of FTX – the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world at one time – when he was worth billions of dollars on paper.

FTX allowed investors to buy dozens of virtual currencies, from Bitcoin to more obscure ones like Shiba Inu Coin.

FTX logo is seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Pic: Reuters

Flush with billions of dollars of investors’ cash, Bankman-Fried rode a crest of success that included a Super Bowl advertisement and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady, basketball star Stephen Curry and comedian Larry David.

But after the collapse of cryptocurrency prices in 2022, Bankman-Fried tried to plug the holes in the balance sheet of FTX’s hedge fund affiliate, known as Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried’s victims – an estimated 80,000 of whom are based in the UK – remain out of pocket, with some losing their life savings.

Prosecutors described his crimes as one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.

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Search under way in Alaska for missing Bering Air plane carrying 10 people

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Search under way in Alaska for missing Bering Air plane carrying 10 people

A search for a missing plane carrying 10 people is under way in Alaska.

The Bering Air flight left Unalakleet at 2.38pm on Thursday but contact was lost less than an hour later, the firm’s operations director David Olson said.

Officials are trying to work out its last-known position but the coastguard said the Cessna Grand Caravan was 12 miles offshore as it flew across Norton Sound.

Tracking site Flightradar24 reported it at 5,300ft before contact was lost.

It was travelling from Unalakleet, a community of about 690 people in western Alaska, to Nome, a gold rush town just south of the Arctic Circle.

The flight time is normally just under an hour.

In a post on Facebook, Nome’s fire department said: “We are currently doing an active ground search from Nome and from White Mountain.”

It added: “We ask the public to please think of those who may be missing at this time, but due to weather and safety concerns please do not form individual search parties.”

Weather in Unalakleet at take-off time was -8.3C (17F) with fog and light snow, according to the US National Weather Service.

Bering Air serves 32 villages in western Alaska and air travel is often the only option of travelling long distances in rural parts of the US state, especially in winter.

“Staff at Bering Air is working hard to gather details, get emergency assistance, search and rescue going,” said Mr Olson.

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Nome in Alaska.
Pic: AP
Image:
The plane was heading to Nome, just south of the Arctic Circle. Pic: AP

It comes soon after two major air accidents in the US in recent weeks.

Sixty-seven people were killed when a jet and helicopter collided in Washington DC and seven died when a medical plane crashed in Philadelphia.

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Judge halts Donald Trump’s plan to get rid of federal employees with payout

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Judge halts Donald Trump's plan to get rid of federal employees with payout

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump’s plan to get rid of government employees by offering them a payout.

The ruling came hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the “fork in the road” deferred resignation programme – which has been commonly described as a buyout.

US district judge George O’Toole Jr, in Boston, did not express an opinion on the legality of the programme but scheduled a hearing for Monday at 2pm local time (7pm in the UK).

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He also directed administration officials to extend the deadline for the programme until after the hearing.

Mr O’Toole could opt to delay the scheme further or block it on a more permanent basis when he considers the legal challenge from unions on Monday.

The offer promises to pay employees their salaries until 30 September – but current spending laws expire on 14 March and it isn’t clear whether salaries will be funded beyond this point.

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It comes as on Thursday, Mr Trump is set to sign more executive orders, one imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court and another tackling what he called anti-Christian bias.

The worker buyout scheme is part of a broader move from Mr Trump’s administration to shrink and reshape the federal government.

An important aspect of that has been Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency – and he orchestrated the federal worker buyout scheme as well.

Responding to the development, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Sky News’ US partner NBC News: “We are grateful to the judge for extending the deadline so more federal workers who refuse to show up to the office can take the administration up on this very generous, once-in-a-lifetime offer.”

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She also said that more than 40,000 people had accepted the buyout so far – this figure corresponds to around 2% of the federal government’s 2.3 million civilian workforce.

NBC News reported this figure to be higher, at 60,000, citing a senior administration official.

Around 6% of federal workers retire or resign in a normal year, according to the Partnership for Public Service.

Labour unions and opposing Democrats have said the offer is not trustworthy.

The buyout covers not just employees at domestic agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency, but intelligence agencies like the CIA as well.

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The administration also warned those who do not accept the buyout could still lose their jobs.

This is the latest of Mr Trump’s efforts to be blocked by a judge over concerns of legality.

Mr Trump’s effort to block birthright US citizenship has been blocked by a second federal judge in two days.

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Israel leans hard into Trump plan for Gaza – but has anyone asked its people?

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Israel leans hard into Trump plan for Gaza - but has anyone asked its people?

Donald Trump is not a man in the habit of backing down.

His astonishing proposal to “own” Gaza and relocate two million Palestinians has faced unanimous opposition from America’s allies, but the president now has a plan and woe betide anyone who gets in the way. And that includes international law.

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of the fighting,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump latest: Netanyahu backs ‘remarkable’ Gaza idea

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Netanyahu praises Trump’s ‘good idea’

Nevermind that Gaza is not Israel’s land to turn over.

“The Palestinians… would have already been settled in safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”

Nevermind that most countries in the region have angrily opposed this suggestion.

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Aware, perhaps, that the prospect of US troops being sent to Gaza, possibly for decades, would meet opposition in Congress, Trump added “no soldiers by the US would be needed!”

Well that clears one question up. But who would be responsible for security in Gaza then?

Local police officers who are affiliated to Hamas? Private security contractors made of former American soldiers, operating under rules of engagement set by who?

While most of the world is recoiling at all this, in Israel they are leaning into it. Hard.

The defence minister, Israel Katz, has ordered the IDF to prepare plans to allow Gazans to leave by land, sea or air. This is being framed as voluntary migration, giving Gazans the freedom to leave for a better life elsewhere.

Some might. But what if most don’t. Then what?

Voluntary migration sounds nice and all, but how voluntary would it be, really?

Read more:
White House appears to row back on Gaza proposal
What you need to know about Trump’s Gaza plan

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Trump plan is ‘ethnic cleansing’

Palestinians, human rights organisations and others argue that after 15 and a half months of constant bombardment, Israel has left Gaza uninhabitable and so any departure would be down the barrel of guns that have been pointing at them for almost a year and a half.

Faced with all this, Trump, Netanyahu and their ministers continue to insist that only they know what’s best for Gazans.

Has anyone actually asked the people of Gaza?

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