Sam Bankman-Fried leaves federal court in New York, July 26, 2023 (AFP/Archives/ANGELA WEISS)
A billionaire before the age of 30, a little genius with a whimsical appearance, Sam Bankman-Fried had conquered the world of cryptocurrencies in a few months but at the cost of insane risks which will land him in prison, where he was sentenced on Thursday to stay for 25 years.
Accused in particular of fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering, the young thirty-year-old was found guilty in November in New York of all counts, after a resounding trial.
In just a few months, this physics graduate from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) turned a small startup, launched in 2019, into the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange platform.
He quickly rises above his status as a young boss, determined to play the role of ambassador of cryptos, to the media and to Congress where he makes his first appearance in December 2021, during a hearing on the sector.
The public discovers an atypical character, with abundant curly hair and a round face, who, when he is not in costume in the aisles of Congress, wears a T-shirt and Bermuda shorts.
“SBF” appeals to American elected officials with its clear language and its vision of the future of cryptocurrencies, including an extensive regulatory framework, while many in the industry are opposed to it.
He is multiplying new projects, some of which directly encroach on the flower beds of the American stock exchanges.
Majority shareholder of his group, the native Californian is at the head of a fortune estimated at its peak at 26 billion dollars. “Only Zuck (Mark Zuckerberg) became so rich, so young,” headlines Forbes magazine in October 2021.
This son of two Stanford academics ventures well beyond the crypto universe, donating to American political candidates and convincing celebrities like American football legend Tom Brady to extol the merits of FTX, against strong remuneration.
According to the CNBC channel, “SBF” even signed a contract with singer Taylor Swift, before finally giving up the partnership.
This vegan advocates the concept of effective altruism, which notably consists of donating all or part of one’s fortune to charitable causes.
When the storm rose over cryptocurrencies in the spring of 2022, he acted as a stabilizing element, buying the struggling platform BlockFi and the assets of another bankrupt player, Voyager.
“We take seriously our duty to protect the digital asset ecosystem and its customers,” Sam Bankman-Fried, who some compare to the pope of American capitalism Warren Buffett, said in a tweet.
– “President of the United States” –
But behind this reassuring facade, the troublemaker engages in a financial balancing act and takes colossal risks, according to what court documents will later reveal.
His team used money deposited by clients on the FTX platform to fuel, without their consent, the bold bets of its Alameda subsidiary, to buy real estate and to make donations to political figures (AFP/Archives/Stefani Reynolds)
His team used money deposited by customers on the FTX platform to fuel, without their consent, the bold bets of its Alameda subsidiary, to buy real estate and to make donations to political figures.
“Talented boss”, “ambitious”, he “wanted to become president of the United States”, described, at his trial, the deputy prosecutor Danielle Sassoon, who led the prosecution.
In his race, “he wanted to spend billions taken from his clients’ accounts to gain power and relationships,” she asserted. “He had the arrogance to think he could commit fraud and get away with it.”
– 110 years of imprisonment –
At the beginning of November 2022, the media CoinDesk reveals that a considerable part of Alameda’s assets consists of a cryptocurrency created by FTX, FTT, which causes the collapse of this digital currency, and of the empire of “SBF ” with her.
At the time of the bankruptcy filing, approximately $9 billion was missing. The liquidators, who have already recovered around 6.4 billion in cash, plan to fully reimburse injured customers.
New York Prosecutor Damian Williams during a press conference announcing the indictment of Samuel Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, on December 13, 2022 in New York (AFP/Archives/Ed JONES)
Extradited from the Bahamas, where FTX was based, Sam Bankman-Fried, whose fortune had evaporated, was charged a few weeks later with fraud and criminal conspiracy.
At the end of five weeks of trial, “SBF”, 32 years old, faced up to 110 years of criminal imprisonment in total. The New York prosecutor, Damian Williams, ultimately asked for between forty and fifty years.
In court, “SBF” tried to present the face of a young entrepreneur lacking experience, who made “big mistakes” but acted in good faith.
To exonerate the accused, “you would have to believe that he understood nothing” about what was happening within his own companies, another deputy prosecutor, Nicolas Roos, told the jury. “You’ve been watching this whole trial and you know none of it is true.”
© 2024 AFP
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