Michael Hiltzik: Sam Bankman-Fried will be sentenced Thursday for his crypto fraud. Throw the book at him

If there's any question about the toll the FTX collapse had on its customers, the statements submitted to the court by victims should dispel it. As was the case with Celsius, a crypto exchange that went bust in 2022, the FTX customer statements tell tales of grievous loss and emotional torment.

Of his $4 million claim, one customer writes: "It was my life savings and now I am left with nothing, no assets, no home, no savings, no job. ... My family's life has been irreparably damaged."

Another writes, "Prior to this crime, I had invested years of hard work and dedication into building a better future for myself and my loved ones. ... The abrupt loss has shattered those dreams, leaving me feeling stripped of my youth and vitality. ... The burden of financial ruin weighs heavily on my shoulders, leading me to grapple with constant thoughts of suicide."

That's not the only picture painted for Judge Kaplan. In her letter to the judge, Bankman-Fried's mother, Stanford law professor Barbara Fried, depicted her son as unrelentingly idealistic, as though that's the quality that led him to commit a multibillion-dollar fraud.

"Sam's desire to do good on a large scale never crowded out his concern for individuals," she wrote. "Prison has afforded Sam few opportunities to do good in the world."

There isn't much to say about this, other than that if I were facing sentencing on seven fraud counts I would hope that my mother would write a letter in the same vein. (His father and brother also wrote letters pleading for leniency.)

The family argues that Bankman-Fried was a good-hearted soul who allowed his determination to make the world a better place somehow lead him astray. Is this portrayal trustworthy?

There are abundant signs that he felt empowered to pull the wool over the world's eyes. Testimony at his trial suggested that his image as an altruist was at least partially a sham. Ray points to a list of publicity options Bankman-Fried considered after the bankruptcy filing. They included "Go on Tucker Carlsen (sic), come out as a republican. ... Come out against the woke agenda. ... Have Michael Lewis interview me on e.g. ABC."

In other words, he was spinning. Crypto is the essence of spin in the financial markets, and while he was riding high, Bankman-Fried was the avatar of that spin. Judge Kaplan's sentence Thursday will show how good he is at discerning spin from the truth. At age 79 and with 30 years on the federal bench, the record suggests he's very good.