Sam Bankman-Fried Now Feels Remorse for His Actions After Getting a 25-Year Prison Sentence

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of the defunct crypto exchange FTX, has said that he is remorseful for his actions after he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud last week.

Bankman-Fried was interviewed via email by ABC News from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Last Thursday, while announcing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said Bankman-Fried never offered “a word of remorse” for his “terrible crimes.”

“It’s most of what I think about each day,” Bankman-Fried told ABC News. “I never thought that what I was doing was illegal. But I tried to hold myself to a high standard, and I certainly didn’t meet that standard. I’ve heard and seen the despair, frustration and sense of betrayal from thousands of customers; they deserve to be paid in full at the current price.”

The former FTX boss said the insolvency of FTX was the result of several “bad decisions” he made in 2022. Bankman-Fried also noted that the customers “could and should” have been paid in 2022, and it’s “excruciating to see them waiting, day after day.”

“I’m haunted, every day, by what was lost. I never intended to hurt anyone or take anyone’s money. But I was the CEO of FTX, I was responsible for what happened to the company, and when you’re responsible, it doesn’t matter why it goes bad. I’d give anything to be able to help repair even part of the damage. I’m doing what I can from prison, but it’s deeply frustrating not to be able to do more,” he said to ABC News.

On Thursday, Bankman-Fried’s defense team said it would be appealing. During the interview with ABC News, Bankman-Fried said certain trial testimony “greatly misstated what actually happened,” and his defense was “not allowed to introduce crucial evidence or put on important witnesses.”

Read all of CoinDesk’s coverage on the Sam Bankman-Fried trial here.