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pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" s america. s former crypto billionaire, sam bankman-fried, is sentenced to 25 years in jail for one of the biggest financial frauds in u.s. history. as evan nears one year in russian detention, he spoke to his sister about the efforts to free him. >> we are just going to have to continue to fight and believe we are going to get him back home. >> as dissatisfaction with the u.s. supreme court grows, we sit down with tired justice stephen breyer for his thoughts on the courts future, his legacy and more. ♪

welcome to world news america. we start with what's being called one of the biggest financial fraud cases in u.s. history. sam bankman-fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. he was once considered a rising star in the tech world. he will now be jailed for stealing millions of dollars from investors and customers of the now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange that he founded, ftx. at one point, ftx was valued at $32 billion. when the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed in 2022, customers and investors lost north of $10 billion. a new york judge ruled the 32-year-old knew he acted criminally but he had shown no remorse. mr. bankman-fried, who is expected to appeal the sentence, apologized for his actions but did not admit to criminal wrongdoing. he was found guilty last year of seven charges of wire fraud and

conspiracy. let's go outside the courthouse in new york. michelle fleury is standing by for us. 25 years, that's a significant amount of time. was this expected? >> you had prosecutors who had been pushing for 40-50 years. the sentencing guidelines meant it could have been substantially more than that. on the flipside, lawyers for sam bankman-fried said he should have gotten less than seven years. what we saw was judge lewis kaplan her taking everything into account and deciding ultimately that what should be handed down was 25 years. someone who, as you say, was one of the most famous faces in the cryptocurrency world, a billionaire and a major fiscal donor, now faces the prospect of 25 years in prison. >> what happens now? we understand he will appeal. >> we are expecting him to potentially appeal. both his conviction and the sentence.

he is perhaps best known as the leading prosecutor in the case against bernie made off. you remember him, he was sentenced to jail for a ponzi scheme. he said he thought bankman-fried would struggle at least to appeal the sentencing. he thought the judge had done a pretty good job of taking into account a number of factors. one, his cues -- but also, his concern that mr. bankman-fried might commit a crime again in the future. the judge noted that although he was persuaded that mr. bankman-fried was socially awkward at times, that he suffered from autism, he was not convinced by his words that he regretted making bad decisions. he felt that enough remorse had not been expressed and ultimately decided that he needed to send a strong message here. >> quickly, the victims you

mentioned, will they get their money back? >> yeah, ftx customers lost access to their funds when ftx collapsed. that's the crypto training platform. many of them are losing hope. we heard from one of them, saying he was living in ftx nightmare. >> michelle fleury for us there in new york. good to have you on the show. thank you. as american journalist evan gershkovich approaches his first full year in russian detention, the kremlin says it won't talk publicly about the possible talk of any prisoner exchange. he was arrested in russia on suspicion of espionage. moscow accuses the wall street journal reported of trying to obtain military secrets while reporting on the war in ukraine. evan gershkovich, the wall street journal and the u.s. deny accusations of wrongdoing.

i spoke with his sister and paul beckett on their efforts to bring evan home. danielle, i will start with you. we talked in december. first of all, how are you and your family doing? >> we are holding on. we in this past year have been learning about being advocates for evan. we are continuing to move forward, continuing to trust that the white house is taking this very seriously and that there is a team of experts working on this. and, we, with the help of the wall street journal and the global community of journalists, are continuing to keep the spotlight on evan. >> there has been such solidarity among that community of journalists. just to follow up with you, how

is evan doing. i know, you, through letters, have had contact. >> it's really hard for him but we are so proud of him. he is very resilient and he is working really hard to stay strong. he worries about us. we tried to make sure that he knows we are doing well. he even recently sent the women in his life some bouquets for international women's day on march 8. >> paul, i want to ask you, his detention was extended for a fifth time this week. what can you tell us about that? >> since the start of this, we have seen every two to three months, the russians ask for more time to investigate. we have not seen any evidence through that whole process, now it's been extended for another three months, which means we don't know when he will be a

trial. it's pretty funny when you look for it and that increases the urgency of bringing him home and the urgency of the u.s. and russian governments and any other government that can be helpful to figure out a way to get him back. >> paul, last time we spoke, we discussed the prospect of a possible swap for evan. where do those discussions stand right now? >> we saw in early december, the state department said they made an offer for evan and paul, who has been there for five years and the russians rejected it. president putin mentioned evan twice, one at the end of the year press conference and one in an interview with tucker carlson. negotiations have happened quietly and in secret. we are not privy to them both we are confident they are happening. we hope they are free soon. >> danielle, what has the

communication been like with the white house as this process has been ongoing? >> we have heard several times the white house has made statements. that they are serious about getting evan home, which is wonderful to hear. but, we know that this is a conversation that is happening between governments. we are very grateful to have contact from the team. we were able to meet and speak with president biden and he personally promised our family that he is going to get evan home. we have to keep our faith in that promise. >> one year of evan in custody. how does this moment feel for you and your family? >> it's -- it is very hard as i'm sure you can imagine. but, we have no choice but to

continue to hold on and be strong and continue to have faith that we will get him home. it's been a year of holding our breath, waiting and there being a lot of unknown. but, we are just going to have to continue to fight and believe we are going to get him back home. >> paul, what message do you think is important for all of us to have and also give forth, marking a year of evan in custody? >> we would be grateful if people can think of evan, talk about him, get to know him a bit. we have a treasure trove of his reporting and on him. we are grateful for thoughts and the definitive press freedom. this is an attack not just on evan's freedom but a freedom of the press worldwide. what happened to him was a deprivation of the on the mental freedoms that you and i and all of our colleagues rely on to do their jobs to get fact-based

news. it is a moment to think about him and the cause and ultimately , when it is one year and one day, we will need to re-up our efforts to bring him home. >> such an important message from paul. danielle, thank you both for being with us on bbc news. >> thank you for having us. >> recovery efforts have been paused in baltimore to allow crews to clear debris from the bridge that collapsed on tuesday. police identified the bodies of two construction workers recovered from the water as alejandra freund tests. -- fouruentes. wes moore vowed to rebuild the francis scott key bridge, saying the state has a long road ahead. the bridge's reconstruction could cost about $3 billion. >> today, we are thinking about

the families of manor sandoval, who were a kind of -- recovered and identified. we pray for their families and the families of all the victims of the key bridge collapse. our hearts are with the families and to all the families, we are so sorry for this tragedy. >> the ntsb says there were dungeons -- dozens of containers filled with hazardous materials. some of them were significantly breached and are in the water. a full investigation could take 12-24 months. 20 minutes from the francis scott key bridge, baltimore's baseball team held a moment of silence to mourn the victims of the collapse. the orioles in the first game of the season, paid tribute to the first responders who were on the scene. it's take a look now at some

other headlines from around the world. the international court of justice has ordered israel to take urgent action to ensure basic food supplies of palestinians in gaza, saying starvation is spreading and famine is setting in. the judge has said israel must act in full cooperation with the united nations to provide fuel, electricity and medical care throughout gaza, in part by increasing the capacity of land crossing points. at least 45 people are believed to have died after a bus crashed in the south african province. the lone survivor is an eight-year-old girl who was seriously injured and is being treated in the hospital. the bus was traveling from botswana when it plunged off a high bridge and exploded on the floor of a ravine. some bodies were burned beyond recognition. a tropical storm killed 11 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in madagascar. the cyclone swept through the

region. torrents of water rushed through the villages, washing away houses. several bridges collapsed, cutting the region from the rest of madagascar. last year, more than 500 people died after cyclone freddy devastated the island. the pan american health organization says dengue cases have spiked. officials say brazil, argentina and paraguay are most affected. puerto rico issued a public health emergency after the island saw a rapid rise in cases. turning now to the race for the white house, president joe biden's reelection campaign is set to get a boost from his democratic predecessors, barack obama and bill clinton, at a fundraiser at radio city music hall, slated to raise more than $25 million. it comes as his republican rival for the white house was also in

new york, attending the wake of a police officer who was killed during a traffic stop earlier this week. the attorneys argued that his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged are protected under the first amendment. the u.s. supreme court is set to hear arguments on whether mr. trump can be tried on federal criminal charges of election interference or if he had presidential immunity. the stakes are high for both mr. trump and the court, which will be facing a complex case in a heated election year. it comes as recent polls show americans views of the supreme court are not particularly positive. one major reason people cited their disapproval is the courts reversal of roe v. wade, which created the constitutional right to an abortion. the current makeup of the court leans conservative after president trump appointed three of the justices on the bench. justice stephen breyer, who was appointed by bill clinton, retired in 2022 after nearly three decades on the bench.

he was considered a liberal justice. mr. breyer has published a book, reflecting on his career and voicing criticism of the way the current court interprets the constitution. we sat down with him earlier. justice breyer, thank you so much for joining us on bbc news. you have been writing and talking about the current courts approach to the law. some textualism, adhering to the plain text of the constitution and the statutes versus a more practical approach, which you favor. are you worried that the supreme court is headed in the wrong direction? >> yes and no. the average person is not a leader. there are 320 million people and 319 million are not lawyers. they probably would see opinions

they don't like. some see once they like and once they don't like and they think it is all politics. i want to show them what i do. here are some cases, i will give you examples. i will explain to you why i reached this conclusion and i will explain to you why others reached a different conclusion and what is worrying me is in the law schools and the young lawyers, they come along. from my point of view, they think this thing called textualism or originalism is going to work perfectly. they think all you have to do is look at the text, read it. you will have a clear and simple answer. >> what are the consequences of taking that path of textualism? that is the part that you said worries you. >> it's too literal and i don't think he can be done. if we go back even under the magna carta, if we go back to blackstone and we go back to the

lawyers of the late middle ages and move on up as civil rights became more important and so forth, if we go back and look at that, we will see that they asked at least one more question in a difficult case. somebody wrote these words. somebody wrote them. somebody wrote these words in the constitution. what did they have in mind? what were they trying to do? what was their objective? what were their purposes? what are the values and what i the consequences? and those are often, not always, but they are often important questions. >> in the constitution, what you have in your pocket. >> that was my job. >> let's talk about how it plays out in the current context. you were on the landmark dobbs case in 2022, which overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. you wrote there was no change in facts or values since roe v.

wade that would have justified its overturning. so, why was it overturned? was it ideological or political conviction? >> know, the question i asked -- i asked that question with two others who wrote opinions and of course it shouldn't be overturned. not even close. i will say to the people, there are some and people hold different views in the court. some are pretty strong textual lists. i say to the textualists, tell me, which ones do you think we should -- case do you think we should overturn? every case that is not a textual ist case? that's all of them. it's only 99%. you wouldn't have any law. of course we are not going to do that. >> what impact do you think it will have on the country? >> it will have a lot of impact.

we wrote an awful lot of words in the dissent where we said you think when you overturn this, you are overturning the whole problem of abortions over to legislatures and you will never have to hear in this court another case involving abortion? i think there are two coming along pretty quickly. we said no, no. that's not what's going to happen. we are going to get more cases than ever and it's going to create a mess. i think that is a fair way to put what we were talking about. >> i want to ask you about the perception of the court. this is something you are concerned about. according to a poll from the marquette law school that was released in february, 40% of adults approve of the supreme court's actions. 60% disapprove. do you think that matters? >> yes. but, you know why i say but? it's a really good question to ask a judge. why?

you said why, i said why. here is why i think. suppose that you are a friend, suppose you had an acquaintance who was very unpopular. very unpopular. and that acquaintance has a case brought against them in a court. do you want the judge, do you sympathize with that person, to decide what is popular or unpopular? they said this document here is for the least popular person as well as the most. because i believe in part that the law is meant to help people. the law is meant to allow people of different races, of different religions and different points of view, to live together, peacefully and productively. >> what about restoring trust in

the court? there was controversy about ethics scandals that could also have an impact on popularity. in november, the court released its first ever set of ethics rules governing its nine justices. there is no enforcement mechanism. do you think there should be? >> it depends what you mean by enforcement. there are seven volumes. they are for all federal judges. i have them in my office. i have a problem of ethics, i will go look at them. if i still have a problem if i can't figure out what i'm talking about, i call and ethics expert and say what do you think? you have to be careful in the supreme court. why? you don't want people manipulating the panels. you don't want people manipulating who is sitting and you could manipulate it if you tried successfully to get smith or jones or somebody disqualified because there is nobody to replace them. it sometimes can be a difficult

thing. but when you're talking about enforcing, it's not just the supreme court, it's every federal judge. the reason they put in here what they put in here, the behavior and independence is because those are important qualities. they look at those seven books. and every one of us, i think, believes ethics is, of course, important. >> the current court will weigh in on whether donald trump can be tried on criminal charges regarding allegations of interference or whether he had presidential immunity. i know you won't comment on the case because it is in front of the court. but, do you think the court should hear a case that presents a political question in such a polarized time? >> when i learned, let's say in 28 years that i was there, you take the cases as they come along. the primary criteria

for taking a case is when the lower court judges have a different opinion on the same law. what's the connection in politics in the court? paul was a great professor. he said no judge, no judge will decide a case based on the temperature of the day. he means political. but, all judges consciously or unconsciously, are affected to some degree by the climate of the era. >> you said you would support the prospect of term limits, perhaps. >> what i've said and i was asked years ago, do you think it would be all right to have a retirement age? i said well, it better be long because you don't want someone on that court thinking what am i going to do next? >> you made the choice to retire.

your former colleague, the late justice ruth, did not. >> you will see, retirement is a personal decision and there are lots of things? into it. your family, your age. i was about 83 years old. giving people a chance. what will the court look like? what are the probabilities of the work that i've done and will that last? that's not the only thing but it is a big mixture of things in your mind. >> finally, before we go, a french chocolatier has released a special easter chocolate collection, celebrating the upcoming olympics. edward chocolatier's easter collection is hotly awaited every year. this year's collection features a race running big, a rabbit hurdler, chocolate carrots and, of course, a chocolate metal. you can find our news on our

website or follow us on social media to see what we are working on at any time. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. bdo. accountants and advisors. cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

william: good evening. i'm william brangham. geoff bennett and amna nawaz are away. on the “newshour” tonight, disgraced cryptocurrency mogul sam bankman-fried is sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding investors. then, the sister of the american journalist jailed in russia for a year speaks out about his detention. >> we have no other choice.