FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Found Guilty on All 7 Charges
Posted on 11/03/2023
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) (age 31) is a founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. SBF is one of the most high-profile names in the cryptocurrency world. FTX had sovereign wealth fund investors, had Tom Brady and HBO’s Larry David advertise for them, and had made a major deal with Anthony Scaramucci’s Skybridge Capital. SBF was also a major prolific donor to the Democrat party. According to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) campaign finance data, SBF made around US$ 40 million in political donations in the 2022 U.S. election cycle. SBF was on the cover of Fortune and Forbes – Fortune’s title was “The Next Warren Buffett?”
The jurors in Manhattan deliberated for less than five hours Thursday. At 7:47 p.m. EST, all counts had been read. The jury found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal counts of fraud and conspiracy against him. Judge Lewis Kaplan asked about the second trial SBF is facing on March 11, 2024. The U.S. government has until February 1, 2023 to to let the court know if it it plans to still proceed. The sentencing date is March 28, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. Sam Bankman-Fried faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison. SBF can appeal the verdict, but not until sentencing.
“Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, commented in a briefing after the verdicts were read. “The cryptocurrency industry might be new. The players like Sam Bankman-Fried, Fried might be new. But this kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time and we have no patience for it.”
The trial in Manhattan started in early October 2023. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges. U.S. federal prosecutors accused SBF of embezzling his customers at the FTX cryptocurrency exchange since its founding in 2019 until its November 2022 bankruptcy in order. This was made in order to keep up his hedge fund Alameda Research, acquire luxury properties, and donate more than US$ 100 million to U.S. political candidates.
