Sam Bankman-Fried

What the public record shows

Sam Bankman-Fried — founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and the trading firm Alameda Research — was convicted by a federal jury in November 2023 on all seven counts: two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy counts for securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering. On March 28, 2024, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and $11 billion in forfeiture.

The scheme

According to the Department of Justice:

• Bankman-Fried misappropriated billions of dollars of customer funds deposited with FTX — money customers believed was safely held by the exchange — using it for Alameda’s trading, venture bets, political donations, and personal spending.
• He defrauded FTX’s investors of more than $1.7 billion and Alameda’s lenders of more than $1.3 billion.
• The empire collapsed in November 2022 when customers tried to withdraw funds that were no longer there.

The court authorized recovered forfeiture funds to be used to compensate victims.

Why we rate this 1 / 10 — Avoid

One of the largest financial frauds in American history, fully adjudicated at trial. FTX marketed itself as the safe, regulated face of crypto while the customer money was already gone — a reminder that marketing polish and celebrity endorsements are not custody.

Verify it yourself

• DOJ press releases — linked in Sources.
• PACER — United States v. Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y.

Bottom line

Convicted on every count and serving 25 years. If a platform’s safety claim can’t be verified by independent audit and segregated custody, treat it as unverified.

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