The conversation around 25-year prison sentence of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has changed. After some voices in the crypto community suggested the punishment was too harsh, lawyer John Deaton stepped in with strong opinion regarding the conversation. His comments have added a new twist to the ongoing debate about whether justice was served.
Community Member Zach Revisits SBF Sentence
In a recent post on X, a crypto community member named Zach questioned whether Bankman-Fried’s sentence was too harsh. Zach pointed out that the customers of the crypto exchange he founded are being paid back entirely with interest. He suggested that the trading platform’s downfall was not because it was bankrupt but due to cash flow problems.
While he admitted that combining FTX customer funds with Alameda Research was illegal, Zach believed it was a case of poor management rather than criminal intent. He said Sam Bankman-Fried might have made decisions based on utilitarianism and effective altruism, rather than acting out of greed.
After facing pushback from community members regarding his opinion, Zach quickly clarified that he was not arguing SBF’s innocence. Instead, he believed a 25-year sentence without parole for poor decision-making was not justice.
John Deaton Shares Hot Take
Meanwhile, John Deaton does not hold back when he responds to Zach’s argument. In his X post on social networking site X, Deaton said Sam Bankman-Fried fully deserved every year of his 25-year sentence.
Deaton did not stop at Bankman-Fried alone. He said his parents, Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, should also be facing prison time. He pointed to trial evidence, including private chats, which showed Bankman-Fried’s public image of altruism was fake.
The crypto lawyer also criticized him for showing no remorse after the collapse of FTX and mentioned that SBF donated $10 million to the Biden administration.
Concluding his remarks, he urged former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to reopen the SBF’s campaign finance fraud case that was dropped. John Deaton said the case was dismissed only because it involved elected officials.
Is There Hope for Sam Bankman-Fried?
Some market participants believe that the Justice Department could influence the future of Sam Bankman-Fried. Recently, federal prosecutors and regulators have scaled back on crypto cases.
Notably, regulators have focused mainly on crimes directly related to cryptocurrency and have left other matters to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Unfortunately, in the recent SBF interview with Tucker Carlson, the FTX founder admitted that without intervention, he could remain in prison until his late fifties.
Despite these efforts, the strong call from John Deaton for further charges suggests that leniency remains unlikely. However, the changing environment in Washington means the door is not entirely closed. For instance, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes bagged Presidential pardon in the United States recently.
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