Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been denied an adjourned sentencing hearing, according to a court filing dated Dec. 20.
Bankman-Fried’s legal team requested the sentencing hearing to be adjourned for four to six additional weeks, which would postpone sentencing into May 2024. Bankman-Fried’s sentencing date is currently set for March 28, 2024.
Lawyers stated that Bankman-Fried’s defense needs additional time to collect materials needed for the sentencing submission and to prepare for an upcoming pre-sentencing interview that is scheduled for Dec. 21.
Lawyers additionally argued that the sentencing process should not begin until other charges omitted from Bankman-Fried’s earlier trial are resolved. Those charges, in part, involve allegations of foreign bribery and campaign finance violations and will be addressed in a trial scheduled for March 11, 2024.
Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the request. He noted that Bankman-Fried has already been granted one extension to provide more time to file sentence submissions. That request was granted on Nov. 18, according to past reports.
Judge Kaplan also stated that the current sentencing date was set without objection from the defendant. He added that Bankman-Fried has had more than six weeks to prepare for the pre-sentencing interview set to take place Thursday.
SBF was convicted in November
Bankman-Fried was convicted on Nov. 2 of all counts related to fraud and other crimes at FTX and its sister firm, Alameda Research.
Though Bankman-Fried faces a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison, many legal experts believe he will receive a considerably shorter sentence. Some estimates suggest that he might serve less than 25 years in prison.
Four other former executives at FTX and related companies have also reached guilty pleas with U.S. prosecutors. Though those executives reached plea deals with the intent of receiving lenient or no sentencing, each deal partially allows for sentencing. Only FTX DM co-CEO Ryan Salame is known to have a sentencing date at present; his sentencing hearing is set for March 6, 2024.
