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 crypto’s 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 more than four hours of deliberation on Thursday to reach a verdict, convicting Mr. Bankman-Fried of wire fraud and conspiracy.
Together the counts carry a maximum sentence of 110 years. Mr. Bankman-Fried, 31, is expected to appeal. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on March 28.
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 world’s biggest marketplaces for people to buy and sell digital coins like Bitcoin and Ether.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
