Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried denied sentencing extension

The former executive was denied a sentencing extension on Wednesday

article-image

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried | Getty modified by Blockworks

share

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried isn’t getting a sentencing extension for the holidays, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Wednesday.

Counsel for Bankman-Fried filed a letter early Wednesday seeking a “short four to six-week adjournment of the sentencing hearing in the above-captioned case.”

Sentencing for Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty on seven charges back in November, is scheduled for March 28. He faces a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison.

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued that they needed “additional time to collect materials necessary for the sentencing submission and to prepare for the presentence interview.” It also sought to utilize the extra time to prepare for the government to possibly proceed with another set of charges, which they dropped from the initial trial.

The second trial is currently set for March 11, if the government chooses to proceed with the counts. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which allege that Bankman-Fried gave around $100 million to politicians.

Read more: How long could Bankman-Fried go to jail following trial? 

US Attorney General Damian Williams proceeded with the superseding indictment after the government initially dropped the charges after the Bahamas didn’t extradite Bankman-Fried on the charge.

Williams reiterated in August that “Mr. Bankman-Fried remains charged with conducting an illegal campaign finance scheme.”

“We submit that Mr. Bankman-Fried should not begin the sentencing process on the counts of conviction, including the presentence interview, until the severed counts are resolved,” the lawyers said.

Bankman-Fried is scheduled for a presentence interview on Thursday.

Kaplan denied the motion saying that the sentencing date was decided without objection from Bankman-Fried’s team, and the “defendant has had over six weeks in which to prepare for the presentence interview, which shall take place tomorrow as scheduled.”

Bankman-Fried’s landmark trial took place in New York last month. Jurors, days before the year anniversary of the FTX collapse, found the former CEO guilty after a month-long trial.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

We believe DoubleZero, given its symbiotic relationship with validators & searchers, promise to boost overall network efficiency and throughput, lack of competition, and ability to serve many blockchain ecosystems, will command meaningful pricing power and could command a meaningful take of priority revenues across blockchains.

article-image

A new policy framework says decentralization should be judged by control — not vibes

article-image

You know about the Bitcoin Standard — what about the Bitcoin Scholarship?

article-image

Toku’s suit accuses an ex-employee of stealing confidential business information and sharing it with competitor Liquifi

article-image

Partial recovery is already in motion, according to the Loopscale team

article-image

Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple are slated to report Q1 earnings this week, and we’re watching one especially closely

article-image

Tariff concerns on corporate earnings and weakening of the US dollar contributed to the surge, CoinShares exec says