Why Did Kwon Get Less Time Than SBF?
-

The sentencing gap between Do Kwon (15 years) and Sam Bankman-Fried (25 years) wasn’t about the damage — Kwon’s fraud caused nearly 4x more losses.
It came down to courtroom behavior:
• Kwon pleaded guilty, apologized to victims, and accepted responsibility.
• SBF went to trial, denied wrongdoing, and was found to have lied repeatedly on the stand.
Judges don’t treat those approaches equally — and the results show it. -
Kwon getting less time than SBF makes sense given their different levels of cooperation and case complexity.
-
SBF’s actions impacted more users directly, so naturally the court took a harder stance.