US fraud trial of disgraced crypto star Sam Bankman-Fried begins
NEW YORK: The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of one of the cryptocurrency industry's biggest exchanges, begins on Tuesday (Oct 3) to determine whether he committed massive fraud against more than a million clients.The 31-year-old - once one of the most respected figures in crypto - now faces decades in prison and could see his name alongside Bernie Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes as one of the era's most prominent fraudsters.The first day of the trial will be devoted to jury selection for a case that is set to last about six weeks.In just a few years, the curly-haired Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate turned his FTX platform into the world's second-biggest crypto exchange, making him the tech world's latest billionaire wunderkind feted from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.FTX had become a near-household name through a frenzied marketing campaign that included celebrity partnerships with stars such as supermodel Gisele Bundchen and basketball star Stephen Curry, and buying the naming rights for the Miami Heat's home arena.Bankman-Fried also stepped in as a kind of saviour of the industry when other crypto companies started facing difficulties, with FTX swooping in to offer them a financial lifeline.At the height of his career, Bankman-Fried was thought to be worth US$26 billion.But his steep rise was only matched by his ignominious downfall, which saw him escorted last year by police from his luxury apartment in the Bahamas and extradited to face charges in the United States.His empire began to crumble last November when a news report pointed to unhealthy ties between the FTX platform and Alameda Research, the company's crypto-focused investment arm.The revelations kept growing and major investors pulled their money out of FTX, sinking it swiftly into bankruptcy and casting Bankman-Fried as a financial pariah.Once the dust had settled, about US$8.7 billion was still unaccounted for, according to the receiver appointed to manage the liquidation.Fede
