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All seven charges of SBF were found guilty, and the FTX chapter finally came to an end.

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In the development of the encryption industry, SBF and its FTX have written a very dramatic chapter. SBF is a dreamer in the bull market and a "greedy liar" after the thunderstorm. In any case, FTX’s once glorious page has been turned.

Author: Joyce, BlockBeats

Editor: Jack, BlockBeats

On November 3rd, according to Reuters, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on Thursday. After a month-long trial, a jury of 12 in the Manhattan Federal Court found SBF guilty on all seven charges. When the verdict was read, SBF stood up and clasped his hands together. Bankman-Fried did not plead guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy.

SBF's sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2024. In addition, he will also stand trial for a second set of charges brought by prosecutors earlier this year, which include allegations of foreign bribery and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to Bloomberg, Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Nishad Singh, FTX's engineering manager, are key witnesses in the SBF trial. As part of a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, the three have pleaded guilty, and several criminal defense lawyers following the case say that based on the testimony of Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh, they may not be sentenced to prison or may only face a small chance of imprisonment.

Last year today FTX exploded

On the evening of November 2, 2022, CoinDesk published an article titled "Divisions in Sam Bankman-Fried's Crypto Empire Blur on His Trading Titan Alameda's Balance Sheet", pointing out that there are significant risks in the asset-liability structure of Alameda Research, the crypto trading giant owned by SBF. Of the total assets of $14.6 billion, approximately $6 billion are in FTT, the platform coin issued by FTX, and assets borrowed against FTT as collateral.

This report has caused panic in the industry. In the following week, shock and anger were added to the panic. After experiencing user withdrawals, liquidity crises, and the prospect of being acquired, the global crypto giant with a valuation of $32 billion landed rapidly and FTX suffered an $8 billion asset leak, announcing bankruptcy on November 12. At the same time, Bitcoin fell below $17,000 and ETH fell below $1,300.

On November 16th, Vox journalist Kelsey Piper had a conversation with FTX founder SBF, during which SBF said, "I never deliberately created today's situation, but sometimes things just happen without us realizing it."

On December 13th, 2022, SBF was officially arrested in the Bahamas and subsequently extradited to the United States to await trial.

One Month of Court Trial News Summary

On October 3rd, the highly anticipated FTX case went to trial and FTX founder SBF appeared in court. It has been 9 months and 20 days since SBF was arrested at his home in the Bahamas. SBF's lawyer attempted to prevent a Ukrainian client from testifying in SBF's trial, arguing that such testimony "would only evoke sympathy and anger from the jury."

The criminal trial of SBF's fraud and conspiracy allegations began on October 4th. US Assistant Prosecutor Nathan Rehn told the jury of 12 members that the government will provide evidence and expert witnesses to prove that the former crypto tycoon "cheated his clients" and used their funds to purchase "money, power, and influence" for himself.

Related reading: "SBF trial first week: FTX co-founders testify, revealing insider trading between Alameda and FTX"

During the first week of the FTX fraud trial, Caroline Ellison, the ex-girlfriend of SBF and CEO of Alameda Research, provided a lot of testimony. According to Caroline Ellison's latest testimony and the conversation notes provided with SBF, SBF instructed Alameda to sell BTC obtained from FTX customer funds if Bitcoin exceeded $20,000, and to continue selling Bitcoin to maintain the price below $20,000 in order to stabilize the Bitcoin price.

Related reading:

"SBF's ex-girlfriend's explosive revelations on the second day of her court appearance"

"Why did SBF want to control BTC below $20,000? The dark game behind Bitcoin price fluctuations"

On October 17th, another important member of the SBF core circle, Singh, further confirmed explosive allegations of FTX's involvement in illegal political donations during the third week of the trial, including the fact that user account funds were misappropriated without prior permission. In Singh's testimony, he pointed out that Alameda would send him stolen customer funds, which were then used for political donations from his account. In addition, he revealed that the stolen funds were used by SBF for investment and other expenses.

Related reading: "SBF Trial Week 3: Former Chief Engineer Testifies, Confirms FTX Used User Funds for Political Donations"

On October 26th, SBF appeared in court to testify. SBF's defense team attempted to argue that SBF did not intend to deceive customers or investors, and that part of their efforts to run the company relied on the advice of lawyers. During this appearance, SBF was asked to testify about their knowledge of the lawyer's involvement in certain aspects of FTX's operations, their understanding of industry practices, their intentions regarding FTX's funds during the collapse of FTX, and their level of understanding of the financial situation of FTX and Alameda.

Due to the ongoing disagreement between the defense and prosecution over whether the interaction between SBF and the lawyer should be fairly discussed as a topic in the defense's cross-examination, the judge decided to question the witness in the absence of the jury. At around 2 PM Eastern Time, SBF appeared in court in Manhattan to testify, but the jurors were subsequently sent home.

When answering the prosecutor's questions, SBF frequently said he didn't remember what he had said, and "I am not sure" became a standard answer. Sometimes he didn't directly answer the question, which prompted Judge Lewis Kaplan to tell him to "only answer the question" at one point.

Related reading: "SBF Trial: Absent Jury and the "Amnesiac" Protagonist"

November 1st, the prosecutor claimed in the closing statement that SBF had committed fraud and conspired to commit fraud. Prosecutor Nicolas Roos pointed out: "This is fraud, plain and simple. Before FTX, there was Alameda." The defense portrayed SBF as an entrepreneur who made "terrible mistakes" with good intentions, denying allegations that he directed the core circle to make political donations and venture capital investments, and used client funds to purchase luxury real estate. During the closing statement, defense lawyers were also emotional and "tearful" at one point.

Related reading: "FTX trial concludes, SBF lawyer in tears at one point"

Additionally, on September 14th of this year, a Delaware judge approved an order allowing bankrupt cryptocurrency trading platform FTX to sell or invest its $3.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency. Some were concerned that the sale of such a large amount of assets would have a negative impact on the market after FTX was approved to liquidate its assets. However, it seems that this did not cause much market turbulence.

Since October 26th, FTX and Alameda have transferred approximately $170 million worth of 30 assets. Interestingly, after SBF was reported to be testifying in court, FTT saw a surge of over 20%.

Related reading: "What coins did FTX sell in the past 7 days?"

Source: Lookonchain

FTX Empire Era Comes to an End

After SBF was convicted, former Spartan Group partner and Tangent co-founder Jason Choi wrote on X: "A chapter has ended."

Alfred Lin, a partner at Sequoia Capital, which led the investment in FTX, made a statement on social media saying that "Sequoia Capital has been intentionally misled and deceived by lies."