Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding customers for US$8b

The news: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of defrauding customers on his cryptocurrency exchange of at least USD8 billion ($12.4 billion), one of the biggest financial frauds in history.

The numbers: The jury found the former "crypto king" guilty on all seven counts, two of fraud and five of conspiracy, and the former billionaire now faces potentially decades in prison. The verdict came roughly a year since FTX filed for bankruptcy after being valued as high as USD32 billion in early 2022. In March that year, Bankman-Fried's net worth was estimated to be roughly USD26 billion.

The context: Prosecutors successfully argued Bankman-Fried diverted customer funds from his FTX exchange to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, which was used to pay lenders, make loans to Bankman-Fried and other executives and donate more than USD100 million to politicians and campaigns to promote favourable cryptocurrency regulation.