Prosecutors are unlikely to offer Sam Bankman-Fried a favorable plea deal, the attorney says

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) may not be able to offset the two counts of telephone fraud and six counts of conspiracy he faces with the credits to be received for entering his guilty plea rather than going to trial.

Appointment to appear in court in the first days of January to Enter the plea bargainMark Kasten, an attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll and Rooney’s Blockchain and Crypto Assets practice group, said Bankman-Fried is “unlikely to get a favorable deal from prosecutors.”

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Kasten explained that the government often asks defendants to help sue others in order to obtain a cooperation credit. “Here, Bankman Fried is unlikely to point a finger at anyone,” he said.

It might be Bankman-Fried, too enter into a similar agreement Kasten referred to Carolyn Ellison and Jaji Wang, calling it an “open appeal,” which means “prosecutors did not agree to recommend a specific sentence,” thus leaving judgment on the accused to the judge.

Related: FTX Clients File Class Action Lawsuit for Priority Damages

Bankman-Fried’s charges included conspiracy to defraud clients and lenders, securities fraud, commodity fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws. If convicted, it is believed that he could be sentenced to 115 years in prison.

While serving as CEO of FTX during the bankruptcy proceedings, John Ray US House Financial Services Committee that he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls at every level of the organization, from the lack of financial statements to the complete failure of any internal controls or governance whatsoever”.

Ray also noted that “the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced and not very experienced individuals” was behind the stock market crash.

The Southern District of New York will hear Bankman Fried on January 3 before Judge Louis Kaplan – a judge known to be direct and effective. The case is assigned to Kaplan after Judge Ronnie Abrams Resigned due to conflict of interest. Abrams’ husband is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell, the law firm that advised FTX in 2021.