This week in the crypto world we saw Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all counts, three Safemoon execs charged with fraud, and Craig Wright facing legal peril unless he stumps up around a million dollars in court costs.
A great week all round, then.
Sam Bankman-Fried Guilty of Everything
Sam Bankman-Fried was this week convicted on all counts related to defrauding his customers to the tune of billions of dollars through FTX. The once-prominent figure in the crypto world was found guilty of seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money following revelations that surfaced after the exchange’s collapse in November last year.
The verdict came after just four hours of jury deliberation, concluding a month-long trial marked by astonishing testimony from Bankman-Fried’s associates and the entrepreneur himself, who maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings. Bankman-Fried will be sentenced on March 28, 2024, where he could potentially face decades in prison.
Can we all move on now? Oh, we already did. My mistake.
Safemoon Founders Spend Projects Funds on Themselves
Three Safemoon executives were this week charged with fraud by the Department of Justice after allegedly spending millions of dollars of project money on maintaining a luxury lifestyle. Braden Karony, Kyle Nagy, and Thomas Smith were yesterday charged by the US Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy for their roles in defrauding investors in Safemoon.
The state alleges that the trio fraudulently diverted and misappropriated millions of dollars’ worth of purportedly “locked” SFM tokens for their personal benefit. Karony was arrested in Provo, Utah, and Smith was arrested in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, but Nagy remains at large.
Put your hand up if you’re shocked. Thought not.
Craig Wright’s Satoshi Trials Under Threat
Craig Wright’s plethora of legal cases to prove he is Satoshi Nakamoto and “take back” Bitcoin could be under threat unless Wright pays around $1 million in security costs for two of them. Wright brought the cases in 2021 and the defendants in both instances won rulings that forced Wright to pay their projected legal fees upfront so they are protected if he loses.
Having missed payments to this point, Wright was this week told by the court that unless he pays the money, the deadlines for which are next week and the week after respectively, his cases will be scrapped. Wright has previously relied on his sugar daddy, Calvin Ayre, for his lawsuit costs, but a falling out between the pair has led to the man who once boasted about having more money than the country of Rwanda having to pay for his own lawsuits, which so far is not going well.
