Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the now-defunct exchange FTX has just been convicted of fraud.
According to recent reports, the former CEO was found guilty of what the jury describes as "a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him (SBF) the king of crypto".
The 31-year old now faces more than a century of jail time, for seven different counts of fraud and conspiracy that cost investors almost $10 billion dollars.
Last year in November, Bankman-Fried was accused of organising a complex fraud network involving FTX, Alameda Research, and other entities.
Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly used Alameda, a crypto trading firm he founded, to manipulate the prices of crypto on FTX: Another company which he also founded and ran.
Bankman Fried was able to lie to investors and regulators about the relationship between FTX and Alameda.
With the funds he was able to siphon from both companies, Bankman-Fried used almost $8 billion of FTX customers' funds to buy houses, yachts, and eventually cover Alameda's losses when the law had almost caught up to him.
In a New York District court this week, the Jury has now found him guilty of crimes ranging from wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering. According to the court's proceedigs, Bankman-Fried will be will be sentenced by Judge Lewis Kaplan on March 28, 2024.
After the conviction verdict, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams described Bankman-Fried's crimes pretty interestingly.
Attorney Williams says that SBF's actions are a "a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto".
Williams went further to describe Bankman-Fried as and one of the biggest financial frauds in American history, who "betrayed the trust of millions of investors who believed in him and his vision of a decentralized future."
According to Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried's chief lawyer, the SBF legal representative team is "very disappointed" with the result.
"We respect the jury's decision. But we are very disappointed with the result. Mr. Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."
Cohen maintains that Bankman-Fried is innocent, and will continue to "vigorously fight the charges against him."
Cohen has no plans to go down easy, and has said that Bankman-Fried will appeal the verdict and seek a new trial.
During the trial that has lasted several weeks, several former FTX executives and employees have pleaded guilty, cooperated with the government and have come out with testimonies against the accused.
These witnesses including Nishad Singh, Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang revealed how Bankman-Fried used Alameda to manipulate the market, inflate FTX's valuation with false reports and balance sheets, and hide massive risks from investors and regulators.
The testimonies from the former executives also exposed how Sam Bankman-Fried tried to blame others for November 2022, when the crypto market crashed and Alameda could no longer support FTX's bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried has denied any wrongdoing so far.
He has also claimed that he made "a number of big mistakes" but did not intend to defraud anyone.
And as it turns out, Bankman-Fried's crimes carry a maximum sentence of between five and 20 years in prison each. Combined with 20 years each on wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, things do not look so good.
The conviction of Bankman-Fried now stands as one of the major setbacks to the crypto market's expansion, which has been struggling to regain trust from its investors after the FTX scandal.
FTX, being one of the largest and most popular crypto exchanges in the world at the time, caused a massive amount of FUD when it collapsed.
FTX had over 10 million users and a valuation of over $50 billion, before dragging the rest of the market under in a wave of lawsuits and regulations that still plague companies and indivduals until date.
Bankman-Fried, who was once hailed as a visionary and a genius, has now been proven to be a fraudster and a criminal, who abused his power and influence to "enrich himself and deceive others".
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