Sam Bankman-Fried, once hailed as the ‘Crypto King’ and who founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, faced a dramatic downfall as he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from customers of his now-bankrupt platform.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan delivered the verdict on Thursday, concluding Bankman-Fried’s trial which began after FTX’s collapse in 2022.
Who is Sam Bankman Fried?
Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, is an American entrepreneur who founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
Born on March 5, 1992, in Stanford, California, he studied at MIT and later ventured into cryptocurrency trading. He worked on Wall Street initially before establishing Alameda Research in 2017.
Two years later, he founded FTX cryptocurrency exchange, which later propelled his rise to prominence. FTX allowed users to trade various digital assets,
Why is Sam Bankman Fried called the ‘Crypto King’?
Bankman-Fried earned the name’Crypto King’ due to his remarkable success with FTX. The exchange became the world’s second-largest, facilitating the trade of numerous virtual currencies, including Bitcoin.
The platform helped him shoot to fame and amass a net worth of $26 billion by the age of 30.
His promotional efforts, such as featuring celebrities like Tom Brady and Larry David in advertisements, further solidified FTX’s reputation as a safe platform.
Why was Sam Bankman Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison?
The 32-year-old entrepreneur was found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, marking one of the biggest financial fraud cases in US history.
Bankman-Fried’s legacy of being the posterboy for digital currencies took a turn as he faced convictions on multiple federal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering.
Accused of being the brainchild of an $8 billion fraud, Bankman-Fried’s arrest in the Bahamas marked the beginning of a legal battle that ended in a 25-year prison sentence. The case was described by the judge as one of the largest financial frauds in American history.
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