Sam Bankman-Fried Is Found Guilty of 7 Counts of Fraud and Conspiracy – The New York Times

Sam Bankman-Fried, the tousle-haired mogul who founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, was convicted on Thursday of seven charges of fraud and conspiracy after a monthlong trial that laid bare the rampant hubris and risk-taking across the crypto industry.

Mr. Bankman-Fried became a symbol of cryptos excesses last year when FTX collapsed and he was charged with stealing as much as $10 billion from customers to finance political contributions, venture capital investments and other extravagant spending. A jury of nine women and three men took just over four hours of deliberation on Thursday to reach a verdict, convicting Mr. Bankman-Fried of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Together the counts carry a maximum sentence of 110 years. Mr. Bankman-Fried, 31, is expected to appeal. Hes scheduled to be sentenced on March 28.

Before the verdict was announced, Mr. Bankman-Fried, wearing a gray suit and purple tie, stood to face the jury, with his hands clasped in front of him. He showed little visible emotion as a juror repeated the word guilty seven times. He then took his seat, with his head angled down.

Mr. Bankman-Frieds mother, Barbara Fried, put her head in her hands and stifled a sob. Then she and Mr. Bankman-Frieds father, Joe Bankman, stood arm in arm, separated from their son by a short wooden barrier. As Mr. Bankman-Fried left the room, accompanied by a U.S. marshal, he nodded at his parents, before quickly turning his face away.

The verdict capped one of the fastest and most spectacular falls from grace in modern corporate history. Just a year ago, Mr. Bankman-Fried was worth more than $20 billion and hailed as a rare good guy in the freewheeling crypto industry, his face plastered on billboards and magazine covers. FTX, valued at $32 billion at its peak, was one of the worlds biggest marketplaces for people to buy and sell digital coins like Bitcoin and Ether.

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Sam Bankman-Fried Is Found Guilty of 7 Counts of Fraud and Conspiracy - The New York Times

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