If the high-rollers surrounding the disgraced FTX founder had any qualms about taking his money, they didn’t show it
Later today, a man who has recently turned 32 will be hauled in front of a Manhattan judge. Already convicted of huge fraud, he knows he’s going to prison. The only question is for how long. If the US government gets its way, he will not emerge before his 80th birthday.
This is the final disgrace of Sam Bankman-Fried. The judge, politicians and the world’s press will declare him one of the biggest swindlers in American history. They will note how within three years he built a marketplace for digital currencies, or crypto, that was worth around $32bn – and made himself the world’s richest person under 30. Still it wasn’t enough. He spent perhaps $8bn of his customers’ savings on luxury homes, risky investments and whatever else took his fancy.
