The post Live Updates: Sam Bankman Fried Sentencing ; Courtroom Scenes appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
The time has come for Sam Bankman-Fried’s fate to be decided by Judge Lewis Kaplan. Will Sam go to jail for 30 years? For 7 years? Or will he be pardoned altogether like his defense team wants? Check out live updates below to see what’s going on in the courtroom as it happens:-
The courtroom was sort of empty at first, with only a few US Marshals agents as everyone awaited Sam’s dramatic entrance. Merely a few minutes later, Assistant U.S. Attorneys escorted Sam into the courtroom, wearing his light brown prison uniform.
Immediately after he took his seat, Judge Kaplan began to speak. He was pretty straightforward, getting into the Guidelines of disputes pre-sentencing and saying that he’s going to stick to them.
Now Sam’s lawyers are once again trying to appeal to the sympathies of the court, but the strict Kaplan doesn’t look all that convinced…
He listened attentively and nodded when they were done, but responded by reminding the defense and entire court that Sam is not a victim here. The real victims are FTX investors, customers, and lenders, who altogether have lost a whopping $11 billion.
Kaplan said the defense’s argument is as hollow as a chocolate Easter bunny, and he quickly dismissed it, shaming them in fact for downplaying Sam’s heinous crimes especially in the face of victims who have shared their personal stories on how Sam literally ruined their lives. Sunil is one of those victims. And he personally came up to the court and once again shared his hollow story of how Sam’s action changed the trajectory of his life forever.
Now everyone’s quiet…
Waiting…
And then SBF speaks up…