- Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial will start next week.
- SBF has been charged for committing numerous crimes.
- Experts expect him to serve more than a decade in prison.
The biggest crypto news of the coming week will be the trial of Sam Bankman Fried (SBF), once the most powerful man in the industry. The trial will start on October 3 and last for about six weeks.
SBF, who is now in jail, is being held for his role in the collapse of FTX, which was the second-biggest crypto exchange in the world by valuation. That collapse led to major volatility in the industry, tighter regulations, and huge losses for costumers and venture funds.
SBF has 13 charges against him in connection with the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research. Initially, the trial will be for eight charges, including misappropriation of funds, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering among others.
Prosecutors have also filed other charges against SBF, including campaign finance violations. If he is found guilty, there is a likelihood that he will get decades behind bars.
Sam Bankman-Fried has the odds stacked against him. For one, his top lieutenants at FTX and Alameda Research have flipped and decided to collaborate with prosecutors. They include Caroline Elison, who ran Alameda Research, and Gary Wang.
Most importantly, SBF has provided prosecutors with so much information through his countless interviews with the press. In most cases, lawyers ask their clients against speaking with the media about ongoing cases.
Therefore, most legal experts believe that Sam Bankman Fried will be found guilty of several crimes. They also expect him to serve more than a decade in federal prison. For example, Bernie Madoff, who ran the biggest ponzi scheme in the world, was jailed for 150 years.
Raj Rajaratnam, a former hedge fund trader, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for insider trading. Other people like Matthew Kluger, Mathew Martoma, and Garrett Bauer served for almost a decade for insider trading.
As such, there is a likelihood that he will serve for a longer duration because of the seriousness of these offenses.
The sad part about all this is that most FTX customers will ultimately get their money back. For one, the current management has already recovered $7.3 billion in liquid assets. FTX owed customers $8 billion. The new management is also considering rebooting the exchange in the coming months.
These liquid assets include cash and crypto holdings like Solana, FTX Token, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Aptos.
