In New York, a federal jury found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of defrauding consumers of his now-defunct bitcoin exchange.
The former billionaire, 31, is accused of taking billions from FTX clients and investors in one of the largest financial scams in US history.
Bankman-Fried faces up to 110 years in jail when he is sentenced later.
He was formerly considered as the poster boy for the crypto business, with Fortune magazine estimating his net worth at $26 billion (€24.4 billion). He is now recognized for perpetrating the largest financial swindle since Bernard Madoff.
“His crimes caught up to him. His crimes have been exposed,” Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon told the jury before they began deliberations. She added that Bankman-Fried turned his customers’ accounts into his “personal piggy bank,” with up to $14 billion disappearing.
Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s attorney, said in a statement they “respect the jury’s decision. But we are very disappointed with the result.”
“Mr. Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him,” he said.
The decision came after a month-long trial in which prosecutors claimed the defendant spent the money on investments, real estate, and bitcoin exchange advertisements.
Three of Bankman-Fried’s former top executives pleaded guilty to fraud charges and testified against him throughout the trial.
Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s on-again, off-again lover, testified before the jury that they took “around $14 billion” from FTX clients before the company went bankrupt.
The founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange admits to committing “a number of small mistakes and a number of larger mistakes” while running the exchange.
The biggest mistake, he said, was failing to implement a dedicated risk management team.
“We thought that we might be able to build the best product on the market,” Bankman-Fried said. “It turned out basically the opposite of that.
A lot of people got hurt, customers, employees, and the company ended up in bankruptcy.”
However, he denied defrauding anyone or taking customers’ funds. He had pleaded not guilty to all charges.
FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022, in one of the most high-profile crypto meltdowns, after traders withdrew billions from the platform in three days.
Bankman-Fried resigned as FTX’s chief executive officer the same day as the bankruptcy filing.