Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

Let's get Greg Jarrett on the phone with us, an attorney and someone who's obviously been following this carefully. Greg, thanks for jumping on the phone. What's your reaction? Twenty-five years for Sam Bankman-Fried? Well I think he was quite fortunate. Prosecutors had asked for more than, you know, 50 years. And it sounded as though the judge was not buying into the defense argument, and in fact the judge said, you know, the defendant committed perjury, which is an aggravating factor in terms of calculating the amount of time he should be served. The defense wanted five years, saying he is not going to socialize well in prison, which is a bit laughable, that he suffers from this condition in which he can't enjoy anything. Well, you're not supposed to enjoy anything behind bars. So, you know, and his, you know, his argument, the judge wasn't buying that, you know, these investors who lost eight billion dollars, you know, were made whole. No, they weren't made whole, because they weren't receiving today's value on cryptocurrency. I think what really upset Judge Lewis Kaplan, too, Greg, and to Kelly O'Grady's point, he never really admitted any, he says, I wasn't guilty of any selfish acts. I never acted for myself. I was guilty of some really bad decisions. And I don't think the judge bought that for a second, and that kind of contributed to the sentence he handed down. Oh, absolutely. And the fact that, you know, he was taking this money that didn't belong to him, and living this incredibly lavish lifestyle, underscores that, you know, that's not a winning argument that SDF made in court. You know, he's been convicted, he's going to, supposed to be sentenced to 25 years. But in today's world, assuming good behavior, how soon could he be out? Well, in state jurisdictions, you can get out a lot sooner than federal prison. I mean, he's going to have to serve at least two-thirds of the 25 years, probably more even with good behavior. So, you know, he's going to be behind bars for a very long time, but he certainly did better at sentencing than Bernie Madoff. Yeah, that's true. I mean, do you think the judge was, I mean, you say that the prosecutors were asking 40 to 50 years. You think, to come back to your original point, he's been kind of fortunate, even though, based on what you just told us, Greg, he's going to have to serve at least 16 years. Yeah, that's true. And I think probably more than 16 years, even with good behavior. I think the judge probably factored in the youth of Sam Bankman Freed, as opposed to Bernie Madoff, who ran his scam for so many decades. This one, by comparison, was run during a very short period of time. But, you know, he stole $8 billion-plus, nevertheless, he lied, he deceived, he committed fraud. He seemed to have very little remorse until today. And even then, as you point out, Jonathan, I mean, he was not exactly taking responsibility. It's not enough to say, oh, well, I was the head of the corporation that stole this money, so the buck stops with me. No, a sincere apology, an expression of remorse might have made a difference. But even to the end, he was in a period of denial. Very true. Greg Jarrett, Fox News legal analyst. Greg, thank you, as always, for jumping on the phone and reacting to this sentencing. Thank you so much, sir. My pleasure.