It took exactly one year for Sam Bankman-Fried to transform from beloved billionaire entrepreneur to convicted felon.
On Nov. 2, a New York jury found Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts he was charged with by the Department of Justice, including defrauding customers and investors of his crypto exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried, the jurors decided, was part of a conspiracy to extract more than $8 billion from FTX customers and funnel it to his trading firm Alameda Research, which then spent it on Bahamian real estate, startup investments and political donations.
00:00 Sam Bankman Freed perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.
00:06 A multi-billion dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto.
00:11 But here's the thing.
00:13 The cryptocurrency industry might be new.
00:16 The players like Sam Bankman Freed might be new.
00:19 But this kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time.
00:24 And we have no patience for it.
00:27 When I became U.S. Attorney, I promised that we would be relentless in rooting out corruption in our financial markets.
00:33 This is what relentless looks like.
00:36 This case moved at lightning speed.
00:39 That was not a coincidence. That was a choice.
00:43 And it's also a message.
00:45 It's a warning, this case, to every single fraudster out there who thinks that they're untouchable.
00:52 Or that their crimes are too complex for us to catch.
00:56 Or that they're too powerful for us to prosecute.
00:59 Or that they could try to talk their way out of it when they get caught.
01:04 Those folks should think again.
01:06 And cut it out.
01:08 And if they don't, I promise we'll have enough handcuffs for all of them.
01:12 Let me end with this.
01:15 I understand that this case has gotten a lot of public attention.
01:18 That makes sense.
01:20 But the women and men of the Southern District of New York and the FBI consistently deliver outstanding public service on behalf of the American people.
01:30 Without fear or favor.
01:32 And without any expectation of public acclaim.
01:35 They do it because they believe in the rule of law.
