How SBF's 25 year prison sentence stacks up against other notorious fraudsters: The term pales in comparison to Bernie Madoff's 150-years but is five more than Theranos founder

•  Sam Bankman-Fried was facing up to 110 years in jail for stealing $8 billion from FTX customers
•  His sentence of 25 years is lenient compared to the likes of Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford’s
• But other scammers such as Elizabeth Holmes and notorious Charles Ponzi got off more lightly 

Sam Bankman-Fried has finally learned his fate following his conviction for stealing $8 billion from his cryptocurrency customers.

The disgraced entrepreneur was facing up to 110 years in prison following the stunning collapse of trading forum FTX.

On Tuesday he filed an 11th hour plea for mercy, with friends submitting letters calling for leniency in his sentence.

Prosecutors had recommended Bankman-Fried be jailed for between 40 to 50 years for his crimes.

But during sentencing at Manhattan on Thursday, he was handed just 25 years – a relatively light punishment in the scheme of things.

Sam Bankman-Fried has finally learned his fate following his conviction for stealing $8 billion from his cryptocurrency customers

The disgraced entrepreneur was facing up to 110 years in prison following the stunning collapse of trading forum FTX

The fraudster was also ordered to pay back $11 billion in restitution.

However, for his critics and crucially his victims, the sentence is not enough.

Handing down the punishment federal judge Lewis Caplan himself noted that, ‘there is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future. And it’s not a trivial risk at all.

‘He knew it was wrong,’ Kaplan said. ‘He knew it was criminal. He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught. But he is not going to admit a thing, as is his right.’

The sentence seems even more lenient compared to some of the jail terms handed out to similarly notorious fraudsters.

So how does SBF’s sentence compare to the rest?

Bernie Madoff

Bernie Madoff’s image as a self-made financial guru all came crashing down in 2008 after his investment advisory business was exposed as a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme

He was convicted of money laundering and securities fraud and sentenced to 150 years in prison where he ultimately died in 2021

Madoff, the man behind the biggest and most devastating Ponzi scheme in history, that robbed tens of thousands of victims worldwide of $65 billion.

He went from a high-flying Wall Street financier to living out his dying days in a North Carolina prison.

Madoff’s world came crashing down in 2008 after his investment advisory business was exposed as a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that had eradicated people’s fortunes – both rich and poor – and destroyed charities and foundations worldwide.

He was convicted of money laundering and securities fraud and sentenced to 150 years in prison where he ultimately died in 2021.

Elizabeth Holmes

Holmes, then 29, is photographed holding a nanotainer of blood at Theranos headquarters in Palo Alto, California, in 2014 before her conviction for fraud

She had scooped in nearly $1 billion in funding from some of the world’s biggest pockets before her invention was unmasked as a scam

The 40-year-old is now nine months into her 11-year sentence after she was jailed following a high-profile trial in 2022

Theranos founder Holmes took the medical world by storm when she claimed to have invented a technology which could diagnose a host of medical conditions from a finger prick test.

She had scooped in nearly $1 billion in funding from some of the world’s biggest pockets.

But it was exposed to be a sham and her lies were exposed in a series of explosive articles in The Wall Street Journal beginning in October 2015

The 40-year-old is now nine months into her 11-year sentence after she was jailed following a high-profile trial in 2022.

She was convicted on four counts of fraud, with each carrying up to 20 years in jail.

The mom-of-two recently spent her milestone birthday behind bars at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas.

Jordan Belfort

Jordan Belfort faced up to 27 years behind bars after investors were defrauded out of millions of dollars which went towards fueling his lavish, drug-fueled lifestyle

In the end he served just 22 months and his story was turned into the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio

The real-life Wolf of Wall Street’s illicit stock market scheme was thrust back into the spotlight after Hollywood adapted the fallen financier’s book about the incident into a film.

But the reality was far from glamorous for Belfort’s 1,500 victims who were the real losers in his 1999 scam.

Belfort faced up to 27 years behind bars after investors were defrauded out of millions of dollars which went towards fueling his lavish, drug-fueled lifestyle.

In the end, Belfort was  sentenced to just four years in prison and got out after 22 months and was ordered to pay $110 million in restitution.

His story was turned into the hit film the Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Charles Ponzi

Charles Ponzi’s swindling became so legendary his name became a shorthand for pyramid schemes

Ponzi was jailed on mail fraud and served a 14-year prison sentence

Famous swindler Charles Ponzi’s fraud was so effective his name became a shorthand for pyramid schemes.

Ponzi was an Italian immigrant who arrived in Boston in 1903 with only $2.50 to his name.

He had already served two prison terms for fraud and illegal activity when he stumbled on a multimillion dollar postage stamp scheme.

When his pyramid investing scheme was finally exposed in 1920, Ponzi’s investors had lost an estimated $20 million – or $225 million in today’s terms.

He was jailed on mail fraud and served a 14-year prison sentence.

Allen Stanford

Texan billionaire Allen Stanford was jailed for orchestrating the second-largest investor fraud in US history

He was jailed for 110 years for defrauding investors in a cricket tournament out of $7 billion

Texan billionaire Allen Stanford was jailed for orchestrating the second-largest investor fraud in US history.

Stanford created the ’20/20 for 20′ cricket match which pitted the Stanford Superstars, made up of West Indies players, against an England XI in Antigua in 2008.

He was later found guilty of masterminding a Ponzi scheme, which rinsed its victims of $7 billion.

He was later sentenced to 110 years in prison, where he currently remains despite several appeals.

Read more