Sam Bankman-Fried to Remain in Brooklyn Prison to Prepare Appeal

Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly back in a prison in Brooklyn after the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) began moving him to a facility in California, the state in which his parents live.

Judge Lewis Kaplan asked that the BOP hold Bankman-Fried in Brooklyn until his appeal “has been fully briefed,” and a spokesman for Bankman-Fried said his client appreciates the BOP’s resolution of the matter, Bloomberg reported Monday (June 3).

The BOP had transported Bankman-Fried to a prison in Oklahoma May 23, apparently as a temporary stop on his way to California, according to the report.

The agency then moved him to a Pennsylvania facility last week before returning him to New York, the report said.

Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried, the founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and Alameda Research, to 25 years in prison in March.

The sentencing followed Bankman-Fried’s conviction on all counts in November, with the charges spanning four categories: fraud on FTX customers; fraud on FTX’s investors; fraud on Alameda’s lenders; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

“At the end of the day, the criminal justice system thrives only if it’s seen as fair,” Kaplan said when announcing the sentencing. “People need to feel it is fair, or we’re back to trial by combat. The punishment must fit the seriousness of the crime. And this was a serious crime.”

Bankman-Fried appealed his conviction and the sentence in April, launching what could be a yearslong process in pursuing the appeal.

On Tuesday (May 28), the former CEO of FTX’s Bahamas subsidiary, Ryan Salame, became the first of Bankman-Fried’s close associates to be sentenced for charges relating to the collapse of FTX and its affiliated companies.

Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison by a U.S. judge after pleading guilty to campaign finance law violations and operating an unlicensed money transmitter.

Three other executives affiliated with FTX and its companies — FTX Co-founder Gary Wang, Chief Engineer Nishad Singh and Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison — pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors during the trial of Bankman-Fried in hopes of receiving lighter sentences.

They could be sentenced later this year.

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