Sam Bankman-Fried Request Denied

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's request for an adjourned sentencing hearing, dated 20 December, has been denied.

The request sought a delay of four to six weeks, pushing the sentencing into May 2024.

Currently set for 28 March 2024, Bankman-Fried's legal team argued that they needed additional time to gather materials for the sentencing submission and prepare for a pre-sentencing interview scheduled for 21 December.

The defense also contended that the sentencing process should not commence until other charges excluded from Bankman-Fried's earlier trial, such as allegations of foreign bribery and campaign finance violations, are resolved.

These charges are expected to be addressed in a trial scheduled for 11 March 2024.

However, Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the request, noting that Bankman-Fried had already been granted an extension on 18 November.

The judge highlighted that the current sentencing date was set without objection from the defendant and emphasised that Bankman-Fried had over six weeks to prepare for the upcoming pre-sentencing interview on Thursday.

SBF Sentencing Outlook

Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on 2 November of all counts related to fraud and other crimes at FTX and its sister firm, Alameda Research.

While facing a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison, legal experts anticipate a considerably shorter term, possibly less than 25 years.

Four other former executives at FTX and related companies have reached guilty pleas with U.S. prosecutors.

Despite the plea deals, allowing for lenient or no sentencing, each deal partly allows for sentencing.

Currently, only FTX DM co-CEO Ryan Salame has a known sentencing date, set for 6 March 2024.