The Crypto Fraud Case Against Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX

Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto empire collapsed in November 2022, and about a month later he was arrested in the Bahamas and accused of fraud and bilking investors and customers out of billions of dollars — allegations he’s denied. In a New York court, Bankman-Fried portrayed himself as a well-intentioned if hapless chief executive; someone who made calamitous mistakes but never knowingly committed fraud. Prosecutors didn’t buy it. Now, it’s up to the jury to decide what’s next for SBF.

What started out as a trading venture focused on digital assets grew into a sprawling crypto empire. More than 100 entities were included when FTX filed for bankruptcy, and of these, only two really mattered. The first was Alameda Research, an arbitrage-focused trading business that Bankman-Fried co-founded in 2017. The second was FTX Trading Ltd., a crypto exchange based in the Bahamas and founded in 2019. At its peak in early 2022, FTX was valued at $32 billion.