Sam Bankman-Fried spared from second trial
U.S. prosecutors said they do not plan to conduct a second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of stealing from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange. - REUTERS
Transcript
00:00 US prosecutors dropped plans for a second trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the
00:07 now bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
00:11 In a letter filed in a Manhattan federal court Friday, prosecutors said strong public interest
00:17 in a prompt resolution of their case against Bankman-Fried outweighed the benefits of a
00:22 second trial.
00:24 Bankman-Fried was accused of looting $8 billion from FTX customers out of sheer greed.
00:30 Last month he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy and would have faced a second set of six charges
00:37 including campaign finance violations, conspiracy to commit bribery and others.
00:43 Those six charges were severed from his first trial.
00:46 That's because the Bahamas, where FTX was based, had not approved them as part of Bankman-Fried's
00:51 extradition to the US in December 2022.
00:55 The 31-year-old former billionaire's sentencing on March 28th will likely include orders of
01:01 forfeiture and restitution for victims of his crimes.
01:06 His verdict came nearly a year after FTX filed for bankruptcy, erasing his once $26 billion
01:13 fortune in one of the fastest collapses of a major participant in US financial markets.
01:20 Bankman-Fried testified at trial that he made mistakes running FTX but maintained he did
01:25 not steal customer funds.
01:27 He is expected to appeal his conviction.
01:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]