Do we like them?

Do we like Sam Bankman-Fried?

Our score: 1 out of 10. A jury convicted him over billions in missing customer money, upheld on appeal, and the sources I opened show no real good to set against it.

Sam Bankman-Fried was the crypto wunderkind of the early 2020s. By 32 he had mingled with celebrities like Tom Brady and shared stages with world leaders, including former President Clinton. His lawyers later pitched him to the court as an “awkward math nerd” rather than a criminal mastermind.

The fall came when FTX collapsed in 2022. In 2023 a New York jury convicted him on seven fraud counts, covering the taking of money from FTX customers and deceiving investors and creditors. Prosecutors estimated at least $8 billion in customer funds was taken and said it paid for a lavish lifestyle, political lobbying and investments in other companies.

At sentencing in March 2024, Judge Lewis Kaplan gave him 25 years, well under the 40 to 50 prosecutors wanted. He criticised Bankman-Fried for showing no remorse and warned he “will be in a position to do something very bad in the future”. His lawyers had asked for far less, between 63 and 78 months.

On the harm test, we found nothing from him on LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or climate, so that part passes, with the caveat that the record is thin. The harm that matters here is the one a jury found: customers lost money. The June 2026 appeals ruling said he used FTX as “his own personal piggy bank” while telling the public customer funds were safe.

He hasn't budged. In a June 2026 Fox Business interview he said “I didn't steal user funds” and maintained customers were repaid. Fox noted the FTX estate's recovery figures differ from the number he cited, and that they are calculated using November 2022 crypto prices.

The appeals panel was unanimous. It called the government's case “conservatively stated, robust” and upheld both the conviction and the sentence. Asked about a pardon, he said “Absolutely”, adding it was “ultimately up to the president”. Trump told The New York Times in January that he had no plans to grant one, and Cointelegraph describes the bid as facing long odds.