Sam Bankman-Fried is facing decades of jail time as the federal court finds him guilty on seven counts

It has been almost exactly a year since FTX crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy, and now, the exchange’s former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, stands trial for multi-billion dollar fraud.

According to recent reports, the exchange’s former executive was found guilty on seven counts in Manhattan federal court. SBF has been convicted after a month-long trial, during which he was accused of stealing $8 billion from the users of his own crypto exchange. The case represents one of the largest cases of financial fraud in the history of the financial industry and possibly the largest one in the history of a 13-year-old crypto industry.

SBF pleaded not guilty until the end, but jury was not convinced

According to Damian Williams, the Manhattan federal prosecutor, the crypto industry might still be new, and players like Sam Bankman-Fried may be new, but this kind of fraud is “as old as time.”

Bankman-Fried, a 31-year-old MIT graduate, pleaded not guilty to five counts of conspiracy and two counts of fraud. However, as the trial reached its conclusion, the jury reached the verdict after four hours of deliberation. Bankman-Fried’s sentence was not yet determined — it will become known on March 28, 2024. However, experts say that the former FTX CEO is likely facing decades of jail time.

Primarily, SBF was accused of funneling funds from his exchange, FTX, to his crypto hedge fund, known as Alameda Research. This money, belonging to the exchange’s investors, was then used to make loans for Alameda executives. The executives used more than $100 million of the funds for various purposes, such as supporting political campaigns in order to increase crypto regulation in the United States.

SBF testifies, denying the theft accusations

Near the end of the trial, Bankman-Fried himself testified after his former executives testified against him. Among them were Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda, as well as former FTX executives Nishad Singh and Gary Wang. The former execs pleaded guilty and said that SBF lied to investors and lenders while directing the executives to steal from the customers.

Prosecutor Danielle Sassoon told the jury that SBF did not bargain for his “three loyal deputies taking that stand and telling you the truth: that he was the one with the plan, the motive, and the greed to raid FTX customer deposits – billions and billions of dollars – to give himself money, power, influence. He thought the rules did not apply to him. He thought that he could get away with it.”

SBF admitted to mismanagement in running the company in his own testimony, however, he also denied that he looted the exchange’s funds for his own gain. He said that he was under the impression that it was legal for Alameda to take the money from FTX and that he did not realize how his debt accumulated before the companies collapsed.

He told the jury that his goal was to build the best product on the market, but that it ended up being the opposite of that. Meanwhile, SBF’s defense lawyer, Mark Cohen, noted that his client maintains his innocence and that the intention is to continue fighting these charges.