FTX fraudster Bankman-Fried seeks less than 7 year sentence, claims he is at risk of 'harm and extortion' in prison

• Sam Bankman-Fried is seeking a prison sentence of between five-and-a-quarter and six-and-a-half years for overseeing a huge financal fraud at his crypto exchange FTX and a related hedge fund.
• Defense lawyers in a New York federal court fling cited SBF's "neurodiversity," selflessness, and "kindness" in calling for the relatively light punishment.
• Federal prosecutors have said FTX and Alameda Research customers lost billions of dollars from Bankman-Fried's fraud.
• He is due to be sentenced March 28.

Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried are asking a judge for a relatively short sentence like "junk bond king" Michael Milken instead of the 100 years that a presentence investigation report calls for.

In a new court filing, attorneys for Bankman-Fried asked for a sentence of between 63 and 78 months in prison for overseeing the huge financial fraud at his cryptocurrency exchange FTX and related hedge fund Alameda Research.

That filing, among other things, cites his "neurodiversity," selflessness, and "kindness" — and strongly disputes claims he cost his companies' customers billions of dollars with fraud.

"Sam Bankman-Fried has been described as a 'sociopath,' 'a man with no morals, remorse or empathy,' who is an 'an ice-cold manipulator, bully and shameless liar,' his lawyers told Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan in the filing.

"But they don't know the true Sam Bankman-Fried," the attorneys argued in rebutting the 100-year prison term recommended by a presentence investigation report by federal probation officials.

The lawyers wrote that Bankman-Fried, 31, is "full of regret for the enormous damage that he has caused his (former) friends, family, partners, colleagues, and the causes he cared so deeply about."

The filing