‘I WAS RESPONSIBLE’

Sam Bankman-Fried Shares His Pain After 25-Year Sentencing: ‘I’m Haunted’

The FTX founder admitted in an interview to having made “bad decisions.”

Sam Bankman-Fried has spoken out about his feelings of remorse for his actions that led to the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange and ultimately his 25-year prison sentence for fraud. Emailing ABC News from jail, the former billionaire said FTX’s insolvency was caused by a string of “bad decisions” he made in 2022 and that his actions at the time are “most of what I think about each day.” Bankman-Fried was given his sentence last week after being convicted last fall of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, with U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan admonishing the crypto mogul for never having conveyed “a word of remorse.” Bankman-Fried told ABC News he is “of course” remorseful. “I’m haunted, every day, by what was lost,” Bankman-Fried wrote. “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.”