Bankman-Fried fraud verdict: Beginning of the end for crypto?

Caroline Ellison, his on-again, off-again girlfriend, served as the star prosecution witness in the trial of the would-be 'King of Crypto'

In this courtroom sketch, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, right, testifies as judge Lewis Kaplan, upper left, presides during his trial in Manhattan federal court. His lawyers tried to cast him as a ‘math nerd’ who was in over his head and tried to blame Caroline Ellison and rival cryptocurrency exchange Binance for FTX’s collapse. Picture: Elizabeth Williams/AP

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, was found guilty on all counts of defrauding his customers by a Manhattan federal court.

The one-time mogul stood with his hands clasped facing the jury as he was found guilty on seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. He faces decades in prison at a sentencing hearing that US district judge Lewis Kaplan set for March 2024. The verdict, reached after just four hours of jury deliberation, brought an end to nearly a month of court proceedings that featured stunning testimony from his closest allies and the disgraced entrepreneur himself. He maintained his innocence until the end.