Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven criminal counts by a jury. The FTX founder faces a maximum prison sentence of 115 years.
Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old son of two Stanford law professors and a graduate of MIT, was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud against FTX customers and Alameda Research lenders, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit commodities fraud against FTX investors, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
What were the charges against Bankman-Fried?
He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were all related to the collapse of FTX and sister hedge fund Alameda late last year.
“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, said in a briefing after the verdicts were read. “While the cryptocurrency industry might be new and the players like Sam Bankman-Fried might be new, this kind of corruption is as old as time. This case has always been about lying, cheating, and stealing, and we have no patience for it.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, “Sam Bankman-Fried thought that he was above the law. Today’s verdict proves he was wrong.”
“This case should send a clear message to anyone who tries to hide their crimes behind a shiny new thing they claim no one else is smart enough to understand: the Justice Department will hold you accountable.”
Bankman-Fried maintained his stoicism
The trial, which began in early October, pitted Bankman-Fried’s former close friends and top lieutenants against their former boss and ex-roommate’s sworn statements. After receiving the case around 3:15 p.m. on Thursday and breaking for dinner around 6 p.m., the jury returned a quick verdict.
The attorneys began to rush back into the courtroom at 7:37 p.m., and the clerk announced, “The jury has reached a verdict.” The jury returned to the room a minute later.
Bankman-Fried’s parents appeared nervous as they entered the courtroom. They sat in the second pew, wrapping their arms around each other. When the defendant returned to the table with his attorneys, he leaned back in his chair, dressed in a purple tie and a black suit. He didn’t flinch and kept his gaze fixed ahead.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial from the top floor of the lower Manhattan courthouse, directed Bankman-Fried to stand and face the jury box as the verdicts were read. The forewoman and the defendant were the only two people who remained standing.
All counts were read by 7:47 p.m. Bankman-Fried maintained his stoicism. He never cried.
Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, immediately requested that jurors be polled following the guilty verdicts. They went through each juror, asking if their verdict was read correctly. They all said yes.
Judge Kaplan thanked the jurors for their service and led them out.
Kaplan then inquired about Bankman-Fried’s upcoming second trial on March 11. The government has until February 1 to notify the court of its intent to proceed. The sentencing is scheduled for March 28 at 9:30 a.m.
Bankman-Fried started walking to a side room around 8:02 p.m. His parents were waiting for him at the front of the center aisle.
Sam Bankman-Fried is currently awaiting sentencing
Following the verdict, Cohen said in a statement that Bankman-Fried “maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos told the court in his closing argument on Wednesday that there was “no serious dispute” that $10 billion in customer money that was sitting in FTX’s crypto exchange went missing. The issue, he said, is whether Bankman-Fried knew that taking the money was wrong.
“The defendant schemed and lied to get money, which he spent,” Roos said.
Bankman-Fried is currently awaiting sentencing. His case has been compared to that of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, a medical device company that went bankrupt in 2018.
After testifying in her own defense, Holmes, 39, was convicted in early 2022 on four counts of defrauding Theranos investors. She received a sentence of more than 11 years in prison and began serving it in May at a minimum-security facility in Bryan, Texas.