The Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried

Disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years Thursday for financial fraud and his role in the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange and the hedge fund Alameda Research. 

On a very special episode of podcast, former federal prosecutor and Partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Sam Enzer rejoins FOX Business’ Kelly O’Grady to react to the sentence, analyze what message it sends to others in the crypto industry, and discuss how SBF compares to other notorious white-collar criminals like Bernie Madoff.

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In a few short months, we will learn the fate of Sam Bankman-Fried, who is expected to face anywhere from 20 to 115 years in prison after his company, FTX, defrauded customers of billions. By then, the crypto industry may be in a completely new landscape due to breaking developments.

Partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Sam Enzer, and former Yahoo Finance anchor and CEO of Trustless Media, Zack Guzman, both join Kelly O’Grady to break down the legal and crypto angles to the conclusion of the SBF saga. 

They discuss why the DOJ did not pursue their second trial of Bankman-Fried, the most dramatic moments from the trial, and they weigh in on how transformational the SEC approval of a Bitcoin ETF would be for the industry.

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The end of 2023 is near and now comes a reflection point for the crypto industry. Sam Bankman-Fried, once running one of the world's most successful cryptocurrency exchanges, was finally convicted for defrauding FTX customers of billions of dollars.

Today, we revisit our interview with white collar criminal defense expert and Partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Sam Enzer, who gave his reactions to this historic verdict.

Together, Kelly and Sam break down the major sticking points that lead to SBF's ultimate conviction and its implications for bad actors in the crypto space.

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2023 has been packed with regulatory action and criminal charges against some of the crypto industry's biggest players. With governments drawing clear red lines on the rules of crypto, Bitcoin has performed well, bringing many to ask: Is this the end of the crypto winter?

Chief Investment Officer at Unicoin, Alex Dominguez, joins the podcast to recap the events this year that saw customers lose faith in crypto and his belief that, with bad actors gone, soon crypto will become an incredible success.

He explains how his own company, Unicoin, is operating with as much transparency as possible and signs that businesses will soon fully embrace cryptocurrency.

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Binance, the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has been slapped with a $4 billion fine by the US government. The DOJ says the platform knowingly allowed bad actors to launder money through Binance, and now the CEO, Changpeng Zhao, has resigned and pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Former Chief Strategy Officer at Binance, Patrick Hillman, joins the podcast to give his reaction to the scandal and where the company went wrong.

He joins Kelly on the podcast to break down the difference between the scandals at FTX and Binance, why we should expect more crypto companies to face a crackdown from the DOJ, and how regulation could save the crypto space.

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SBF now awaits his sentencing for several financial crimes related to defrauding his FTX exchange customers. Despite authorities working to track down customers' stolen funds, some are sure they may never recover what they lost.

Evan Luthra is a tech entrepreneur, angel investor, and FTX customer who lost nearly $2 million after the exchange's collapse.

He joins the podcast to share the moment he realized his money was essentially gone and the difficult and unlikely process of getting it back. He explains how, as a longtime believer in the future of cryptocurrency, he believes cryptocurrency will bounce back strong after the fall of SBF.

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Nearly one week since the SBF’s guilty verdict, what comes next for the crypto-billionaire turned convicted fraudster as he faces decades in prison and another trial in March?

Former prosecutor in the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office, storied defense attorney, and leader of the team that took down Bernie Madoff, Marc Litt, joins the podcast to share what factors led to Bankman-Fried’s legal demise.

He explains how this case always came across to him as a “plain vanilla securities fraud case in a crypto wrapper,” the likelihood that the government will drop their March trial against SBF, and the difference between this case and Madoff’s.

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The verdict is in: Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven counts of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. Now, the FTX founder could face up to 110 years in prison.

White collar criminal defense expert and Partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Sam Enzer, rejoins the podcast to explain how the law could make an example out of SBF with a long sentence.

He walks Kelly through the hurdles SBF’s defense team faces in appealing the jury’s decision, the likelihood of a life sentence for Bankman-Fried, and how the result of the case serves as a warning sign for bad actors in the crypto space.

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SBF endured another day on the stand, where prosecutors sought to dispute his unawareness and inaction as FTX’s CEO. Now that testimony has wrapped up, the closing arguments are ongoing, and soon the jury is expected to take up the case.

World-class forensic accountant, expert witness on the Madoff case, and founder of Dubinsky Consulting, Bruce Dubinsky, joins the podcast to break down what SBF’s “digital fingerprints” revealed and his testimony’s impact on his credibility.

Dubinsky called the testimonies of SBF’s inner circle a major win for the prosecution and drew parallels from his experience as a government expert on the Madoff case. He breaks down what the evidence revealed about what SBF really knew, how the prosecution simplified this crypto case for the jury, and what criminal counts he is watching closely.

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In his testimony before the jury, Sam Bankman-Fried argued it was his FTX lieutenants who committed financial fraud without his knowledge, earning intense grilling from the prosecution as well.

Clinical professor and Director of the Securities Law Clinic at Cornell Law School, William Jacobson, joins the podcast to explain what could be learned from SBF’s testimony and what to expect from closing arguments.

Professor Jacobson analyzes the necessary gamble of SBF’s jury testimony and how Sam’s narrative of the FTX collapse contradicts the testimonies from his inner circle. He explains the main challenges facing the prosecution: the burden of proof and the complexity of this alleged financial crime.

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