Now to the guilty verdict in the fraud case against
one time crypto billionaire Sam Bankman freed.
The jury took just hours to convict him on all
7 counts.
CNBC's Kate Rooney has covered the case from the start.
Before he was 30 years old,
Sam Bankman Freed was already worth an estimated $26 billion.
He founded and ran the crypto trading exchange FTX.
Its name splashed across a Miami sports arena with celebrities
and corporate commercials.
Politicians in Washington sought his advice.
Magazines asking if he was the next Warren Buffett tonight.
He is a convicted felon facing a possible lifetime in
prison.
A jury in his federal case taking just a few
hours to convict him on 7 counts of fraud and
conspiracy.
Begman freed. Lawyers indicating they will appeal.
My client, Mr. Bankman Freed maintains his innocence and we're
going to continue to vigorously fight the charges against him.
But prosecutors whose case laid out how Bankman Freed used
customer money from FTX to cover bad bets at his
crypto hedge fund by expensive real estate and make political
contributions. Called it one of the biggest financial frauds in
U.S.
history. The cryptocurrency industry might be new.
The players, like Sam Bankman freed,
might be new.
But this kind of fraud,
this kind of corruption, is as old as time.
The collapse of FTX and the downfall of Banquet Freed,
now putting renewed focus on Congress's efforts to regulate the
crypto sector,
they've been unable to do it.
And part of the reason for that is because Congress
can't even agree on what cryptocurrency is,
let alone on how to regulate it.
In the week ahead of FTX bankruptcy,
customers rushed to withdraw their money.
The company didn't have it,
and soon there was what amounted to a run on
the bank.
Jake Thacker says he lost more than $200,000 worth of
investments.
I feel like it is vindication.
Of a lot of what people and myself went through,
right? This wasn't something that we did.
This was something that happened to us.
And Kate, as you reported,
the defense team is likely to appeal in this case.
In the meantime, he has more legal troubles.
That's right, Lester. So sentencing for this case is expected
in March.
But first, Bankman Freed is scheduled to stand trial over
another indictment,
this one about campaign finance violations.
He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
All right, Kate Moody, thank you.