Sam Bankman-Fried spoke for the first time since being sentenced to 25 years in prison over the FTX scandal. He claims he is remorseful despite a differing opinion by the courts.
On March 28, former FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from customers of the disgraced crypto exchange. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan delivered the sentence and said that the 32-year old never conveyed «a word of remorse for the commission of terrible crimes».
But in an «ABC» interview with Bankman-Fried, he said he is «of course» remorseful and that customers «deserve to be paid in full, at current price».
Claim of No Intention
Bankman-Fried has repeatedly claimed he had no intention of scamming FTX customers, though he takes responsibility for the downfall of FTX.
«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,» he said. «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.»
Court Statement
In a court statement last week, Bankman-Fried said that damaged customers would have been «paid back long ago» if he or another FTX employee remained in place as CEO. He also vowed to appeal the sentence later this year.
«There are and always have been plenty of assets to repay customers, lenders, and investors in full, at current prices or prices at the time,» he said.
