The trial and sentencing of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried

Ryan Salame is due to begin his seven-year prison sentence next month, but now he claims prosecutors reneged on an agreement to drop a campaign finance investigation into his partner, Michelle Bond, in exchange for his guilty plea.

Charges filed today in the SDNY accuse the two of faking a $400k consulting payment from FTX to fund her unsuccessful run for Congress in 2022.

Michael Lewis has a new essay to accompany the paperback version of Going Infinite, a book about Sam Bankman-Fried that appeared just before his trial. Sure, SBF did crimes because he was an arrogant gambler, but Lewis still loves his gamer son.

Ryan Salame, a top lieutenant at FTX, got over seven years in prison. He’s the second FTX official sentenced, after SBF himself, and did not cooperate with the government — unlike several other members of the inner circle.

As Inner City Press notes, not only did the prosecution bring up Bankman-Fried’s “fuck regulators” DM sent to Vox reporter Kelsey Piper during the trial, the judge hasn’t forgotten either and mentioned it as evidence that SBF was only acting like he wanted regulation for the crypto industry. 

And now we’re back to Judge Kaplan...

Paraphrased courtroom updates from Inner City Press on X capture SBF’s reflections on working with Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison.

These former friends are now felons who testified against Bankman-Fried during his trial.

Sam Bankman-Fried is being represented by new lawyers during today’s hearing, but their statements on his behalf sound familiar. The jury heard those and reached a guilty verdict in just a few hours; now, we’ll see how the judge responds.

The FTX founder is in court now, waiting to see whether Judge Kaplan hands the 40 to 50 years in prison prosecutors recommend — or if his decision is closer to the more lenient five- to six-year sentence that Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are pushing for.

The former crypto billionaire was found guilty on all seven charges he faced in November, and the judge is scheduled to deliver a sentence on March 28th. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers suggested a five- to six-year prison sentence, but a filing submitted by the prosecution on Friday disagrees: 

While a Guidelines sentence – which would exceed 100 years, effectively a life sentence – is not necessary, the Government urges the Court to impose a sentence that underscores the remarkably serious nature of the harm to thousands of victims; prevents the defendant from ever again committing fraud; and sends a powerful signal to others who might be tempted to engage in financial misconduct that the consequences will be severe.

A sentence of 40 to 50 years is necessary to serve such purposes. 

It seems like Bitcoin ETFs may be a new trend for the financiers among us:

The companies getting involved here are, in many cases, household names (and not just for people who have their own pet theories about what happened to Satoshi Nakamoto). Industry giants BlackRock and Fidelity are among those positioned to make the first offerings, which could trade on exchanges like NASDAQ. Expectations around the new ETFs have led to a boom not just of bitcoin’s price but also boosted other digital currencies, including ones that were all but left for dead after their close association with convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

The Wall Street Journal writes that federal prosecutors won’t pursue the five leftover charges that District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan previously split off to avoid delaying the trial that resulted in a guilty verdict for Bankman-Fried last month.

The prosecutors justified the decision in a letter to Kaplan yesterday:

... Much of the evidence that would be offered in a second trial was already offered in the first trial and can be considered by the Court at the defendant’s March 2024 sentencing. Given ... the strong public interest in a prompt resolution of this matter, the Government intends to proceed to sentencing on the counts for which the defendant was convicted at trial.

Tiffany Fong, who’s been heavily involved with the FTX storyline, interviewed FTX creditor Louis D’Origny about the FTX bankruptcy plan. If you want to look at the Chapter 11 plan for yourself, it’s here.

David Mills, the Stanford Law prof who also defended ‘80s bond villain Michael Milken, flew to the Bahamas in his own jet when Bankman-Fried was first jailed. His friendship with Bankman-Fried’s parents may not survive the case.

Several dubious characters have made it onto Forbes’ lists in the 13 years it’s been putting them out. Here are ten it regrets:

• Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX

• Caroline Ellison, Co-CEO of Alameda Research

• Charlie Javice, Founder of Frank

• Nate Paul, Founder of World Class Capital Group

• Martin Shkreli, Founder of MSMB Capital

• Cody Wilson, Founder of Defense Distributed

• James O’Keefe, Founder of Project Veritas

• Phadria Prendergast, Editor-in-Chief of Women Of the City Magazine

• Steph Korey, Co-founder of Away

• Lucas Duplan, Founder of Clinkle

Following a jury's conviction of former FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried on fraud charges, the Wall Street Journal reports that several former FTX employees, including former general counsel Can Sun, are involved in launching a new cryptocurrency exchange based on Dubai.

Sun and Ferrante said they wanted to use the lessons they learned from FTX’s failure to protect user funds. Backpack Exchange, the name under which Trek Labs will do business, will use Backpack’s technology to allow users to hold funds in their own “self-custody” crypto wallets that the exchange itself wouldn’t be able to unilaterally access, they said.

With this stage of Sam Bankman-Fried’s big crypto fraud trial over after the jury found the former FTX boss guilty, The Verge reporter Elizabeth Lopatto joined the Crypto Critics’ Corner podcast to discuss everything that went on in the courtroom.

Along with hosts Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey, they discuss not only the trial’s final moments but also what’s next for SBF.

We’ve got the goss on early wake-ups, lawyer fashion, courtroom sketches, and other pressing matters. Go ahead and leave a question here if you’ve got one... [Arnold voice] I’ll be back.

Kevin Dugan’s overview really sums it up: stripped of the affectations, we discovered there wasn’t much to Sam Bankman-Fried at all.