The founder of FTX Trading Ltd, a cryptocurrency exchange firm, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been found guilty of stealing $8 billion from customers of his now-bankrupt company.
The 31-year-old, according to CNN, was convicted on Thursday in what has been described as one of the “biggest financial frauds on record.”
Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy by a 12-member jury in Manhattan federal court on Thursday after a monthlong trial.
The verdict came barely one year after FTX filed for bankruptcy.
Damian Williams, a leading federal prosecutor in Manhattan who spoke with reporters after the verdict, noted that although players like the FTX boss may be new, the kind of fraud he is being convicted for is nothing new in the system.
“The crypto industry might be new, the players like Sam Bankman-Fried may be new, but this kind of fraud is as old as time, and we have no patience for it,” Williams said.