Sam Bankman-Fried, who helped destroy the crypto currency business by plundering his customers' FTX accounts to give to Democrats and buy real estate, has been found guilty by a New York jury of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy charges. The jury found Bankman-Fried guilty after deliberating for only four and a half hours.
The man touted as Warren Buffett incarnate was anything but. The jury decided he was running a racket. His mother, a bundler who ran an organization to supply money to Democrats, encouraged her son to give money to leftists, which made him the second-largest Democrat donor during the 2020 election cycle. It was just other people's money he was giving away. His brother, another executive at the Bahamas-based crypto exchange, also gave company money to political friends.
Indeed, the jury decided after watching closing arguments, that SBF gave millions and millions of dollars of other people's money to his political party and other causes.
The New York jury decided that Bankman-Fried, a combination of the last names of his parents (who are both tax professors at Stanford University and therefore should know better), stole customer cheddar and used that money to buy real estate, Adderall, and political favors.
CBS reported that SBF "donated $6 million to the House Majority PAC, the main outside group supporting House Democrats." Then he "gave $250,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and $66,500 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The bulk of his political donations — $27 million — bankrolled the 'Protect Our Future PAC,' a group advocating for pandemic preparedness." It was "pandemic preparedness" the same way Zuckbucks were for pandemic preparedness.
find someone that loves you as much as this sketch artist. #SBF pic.twitter.com/5P0sOTup6I
— bill lee (@westcoastbill) October 30, 2023
Bankman-Fried took the stand in the waning days of his trial and, according to reporters in the courtroom, testified smoothly for his own attorneys while displaying a debilitating case of the "I don't knows" when prosecutors asked him questions.
Three of his key FTX executives, including his former girlfriend Caroline Ellison, turned state's evidence, made deals with prosecutors, and testified against their former friend.
Bankman-Fried's team will appeal, of course.
If the current charges stand and he's sentenced accordingly, SBF could spend decades in prison.
The 2020 election remains one of the crookedest on record, and the billionaire millions given to make the election "safe" from the pandemic make it one of the least transparent. By wrapping up SBF in a legal spider web with this case, Democrat prosecutors also make it one of the most obscured.
Let the light shine in.
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