Former FTX CEO Was Found Guilty Of Fraud—Here are 4 Things You Should Know
Sam Bankman-Fried, «King of Crypto», founder and former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, was found guilty by a jury on seven counts including fraud and money laundering after a month-long trial. This verdict comes almost a year after the collapse of FTX, once valued at $32 billion.
The biggest accusations against Bankman-fried involved misuse of FTX customer funds. He was charged with siphoning customer money from the FTX exchange to his cryptocurrency hedge fund, Alameda Research, and using it to fund a lavish personal lifestyle as well as make political contributions.
A report by crypto news outlet CoinDesk almost a year ago to the day raised suspicion about FTX's liquidity. That set off a chain of events that brought the exchange down in a matter of days.
Bankman-Fried, was convicted of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was also found guilty on one charge of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud that each carry up to five years of prison time.
The sentencing for these charges will take place in March next year. That's also when Bankman-Fried will face another trial for five additional charges, including bribery.
The disgraced crypto founder has been in prison since August, when he had his bail revoked for witness tampering.
Sam Bankman-Fried took the stand in his trial but had to endure testimony from some of his former closest aides. FTX co-founder Gary Wang said SBF plugged holes in his Alameda fund with FTX customer money from the early days of the exchange. Wang added that losses at the hedge fund eventually
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