Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and former CEO of crypto change FTX and buying and selling agency Alameda Research, has been found guilty on all seven counts associated to fraud and cash laundering.
The defendant is “charged with a wide-ranging scheme to misappropriate billions of dollars of customer funds deposited with FTX and mislead investors and lenders to FTX and to Alameda Research,” a launch from the U.S. lawyer’s workplace on the Southern District of New York acknowledged.
The resolution was handed down on Thursday, following a five-week trial that dug deep into how one of many largest crypto exchanges and its sister buying and selling firm collapsed a couple of 12 months in the past. The U.S. Department of Justice charged 31-year-old Bankman-Fried about 11 months in the past.
The jury took about 4 hours to return to a verdict on six counts regarding fraud and one rely regarding cash laundering.
Bankman-Fried fell shortly from the highest of the crypto totem pole after a defective Alameda stability sheet was unveiled by CoinDesk in November 2022, which resulted in industry-wide panic and concern round FTX and its liquidity.
As the story unraveled, we discovered that the issue was a lot, a lot larger than many initially thought: The executives behind the now-bankrupt FTX and Alameda allegedly stole over $8 billion in buyer funds.
In his trial, Bankman-Fried testified that he didn’t defraud FTX clients or take their funds, however that Alameda “borrowed” cash from the change. Prosecutors argued Bankman-Fried made false guarantees and was liable for the lack of billions of {dollars} for 1000’s of traders on FTX. They additionally argued he had many alternatives to return clear, however as a substitute doubled down.
The DOJ’s December 2022 indictment acknowledged Bankman-Fried knowingly defrauded FTX clients by misusing their deposits to put money into different corporations and repay lenders and bills. After mounds of proof and a verdict, that assertion has been deemed true by the court docket and jury.
The seven expenses carry a complete doable sentence of 115 years in jail for the defendant.
The statutory most sentences are supplied by The U.S. Congress as “informational purposes only,” as any sentencing might be decided by a choose, usually inside 90 days of a guilty verdict.