Samuel Bankman-Fried founded the crypto exchange FTX and the trading firm Alameda Research. The Second Circuit records that he was chief executive of FTX from its founding in 2019 until shortly before it entered bankruptcy in November 2022, and chief executive of Alameda from its founding in 2017 until 2021.
On 2 November 2023, after a one-month trial before US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in the Southern District of New York, a jury convicted him on two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. On 28 March 2024 Judge Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release and forfeiture of USD 11 billion, and authorised the government to use the forfeited funds to compensate victims.
On 12 June 2026 the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the judgment in full. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought a parallel civil action in December 2022.