Sam Bankman-Fried, or "SBF," the disgraced founder and CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, is expected to be released more than four years earlier than his original sentence of 25 years, Business Insider reported on May 26.

SBF is now expected to be released on Dec. 14, 2044.

Founded in 2019, FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume at its peak in July 2021.

The exchange was committing financial fraud by channeling customer funds to the main executives themselves by pooling money with SBF's crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research. SBF's then-girlfriend Caroline Ellison acted as the CEO at the hedge fund.

Once FTX depositors sensed a potential fraud, they immediately began withdrawing their funds from the exchange. FTX subsequently filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.

In November 2023, the court convicted SBF of seven counts of fraud, including fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. Later in March 2024, the court sentenced him to 25 years in prison and asked him to pay over $11 billion in forfeiture.

The court sentenced Ellison to two years in prison for her role in the fraud. She is expected to be released in May 2026.

SBF's "good conduct time" seems to have led to the decision to shorten his sentence, the publication reported.

As previously reported , SBF was held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where Tucker Carlson virtually interviewed him on March 6. The unsanctioned interview possibly prompted the authorities to move SBF to the FCI-Terminal Island prison in San Pedro, California in late March.

Sam Bankman-Fried's 25-year sentence could end 4 years early first appeared on TheStreet on May 26, 2025