• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on all charges

Home> News

Updated 00:42 3 Nov 2023 GMTPublished 00:36 3 Nov 2023 GMT

Former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on all charges

The ex-crypto king faces decades in prison after being convicted of money laundering and fraud.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover

Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of money laundering and fraud.

The former billionaire's fall from grace was sealed on Thursday (November 2) after a jury returned their verdict on the first day of deliberations.

Bankman-Fried was charged with two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy.

In a month-long trial, the former FTX boss was accused of stealing billions of dollars from his own cryptocurrency exchange.

Advert

FTX was forced to shut down withdrawals in November last year with more than $8 billion in customer funds missing.

Prosecutors claimed the founder orchestrated a scheme to siphon FTX customer money into political contributions, real estate purchases and charitable donations.

They also believed he was lying to his venture capital backers and the companies who lent money to FTX.

His ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, was a star witness for the prosecution's case.

She took the stand last month and admitted that she and Bankman-Fried committed crimes of fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering together.

When asked to describe the founder's attitude to risk, Ellison said he would call himself 'risk neutral' and 'totally comfortable taking a risk'.

“He talked about being willing to do large coin flips: if it comes up tails he loses $10 million and it comes up heads he makes slightly more than $10 million," she said.

"He said he would be happy to flip a coin if it came up tails and the world was destroyed, as long as if it came up heads the world was more than twice as good.”

Ellison went on to claim that Bankman-Fried had asked her to study the risks for cryptocurrency hedge fund Alameda of investing $3 billion in start-ups in 2021.

She determined there was a 100 per cent chance that the company would be left unable to meet its liabilities, but that Bankman-Fried decided to go ahead with the investments.

He will be sentenced at a later date, however he could face decades in prison.

Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in the trial and insisted that all the allegations against him were down to 'bad judgment' during business decisions.


Featured Image Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Topics: Cryptocurrency

Stewart Perrie
Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Senior Journalist at LADbible. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign. He is in charge of the LADbible Australia editorial content and social presence.

X

@stewartperrie

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

a minute ago
6 mins ago
an hour ago
  • Getty Stock Images
    a minute ago

    Scientists discover vegetarians have significantly lower risk of 5 types of cancer

    Vegetarians are significantly less likely to develop cancer, according to the study

    News
  • YouTube/ Nonstop Dan
    6 mins ago

    Influencer defends himself after claiming he was 'stranded' due to Iran war because he didn't book economy seat

    Dan Goz claimed the Iran war had left him 'stranded', but the YouTube creator was almost 4000 miles away

    News
  • Wesley Hitt/Getty Images
    an hour ago

    Disturbing questions NFL star allegedly asked ChatGPT to try and 'cover up' girlfriend's murder

    Darron Lee is accused of first-degree murder

    News
  • Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images
    an hour ago

    AI experts warn bots could have huge societal impacts after using Reddit's 'Am I The A**hole' to test reactions

    It confirmed a suspicion long-held by AI users

    Technology
  • Father of Georgia school shooter found guilty of all charges after his son killed 4 people
  • Former Olympian Ryan Wedding pleads not guilty to 17 felony charges
  • FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in The Bahamas
  • FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud and money laundering