Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Mr Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and former CEO of crypto exchange, FTX, and a trading firm, Alameda Research, have been found guilty by a jury of all seven counts related to fraud and money laundering.
His sentencing will be determined by a judge, typically within 90 days of a guilty verdict.
He 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 Alameda Research.
The decision was handed down on Thursday, following a five-week trial that dug deep into how one of the biggest crypto exchanges and its sister trading company collapsed about a year ago.
The US Department of Justice charged the 31-year-old investor about 11 months ago.
The jury took about four hours to come to a verdict on six counts relating to fraud and one count relating to money laundering.
Mr Bankman-Fried testified that he didn’t defraud FTX customers or take their funds, but that Alameda borrowed money from the exchange.
However, prosecutors argued Mr Bankman-Fried made false promises and was responsible for the loss of billions of dollars for thousands of investors on FTX.
They also argued he had many opportunities to come clean, but instead doubled down.
Mr Bankman-Fried’s former romantic partner and head of Alameda Research hedge fund, Ms Caroline Ellison recently told jurors that he was well aware he could potentially be illegally funding Alameda by using customers’ FTX funds.
It was also found that Mr Bankman-Fried allegedly told Ellison to give crypto lender Genesis an “alternative” balance sheet when suspicions arose about mismanagement.
Ms Ellison also testified that he was hoping to repay customers by raising money from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Mr Bankman-Fried faces a separate trial for allegedly attempting to bribe Chinese officials.
FTX collapsed about a year ago and filed for bankruptcy following reports about its assets and financial health.
