Hello and welcome. You are listening to Patrick Boyle on Finance, a podcast exploring ideas from quantitative finance, examining events occurring in markets right now and financial history to see what lessons can be taken away, including interviews with some of the most interesting people in the world of finance. To learn more about the podcast, visit

onfinance.org.

A federal prosecutor told the 12-person jury on Wednesday that Sam Bankman-Fried had

built his crypto exchange into a pyramid of deceit resting on a foundation of lies and false

promises, that Sam was ultimately responsible for raiding FTX depositors' accounts to make a series

of risky bets, repay loans, and buy real estate. He spent customers' money and he lied about it.

The defence countered that Sam was simply a math nerd,

who may have made some bad business decisions,

but they argued those were not a crime.

The closing arguments from both sides

brought together the five weeks of testimony

presented to the jury, which shone alight on the inner workings of FTX and its related

trading firm Alameda Research. The trial wrapped up almost exactly a year after FTX fell into

bankruptcy. Bankman Freed was convicted

on all seven charges by a New York jury that's likely to send him to prison for decades.

Prosecutors plan to try him on several other counts in a separate trial that's expected

to take place early in 2024.

Evidence was given that Sam had bribed Chinese government officials and hired Thai prostitutes

to help move money. We learned that Caroline Ellison had created seven different balance sheets

to make Alameda's financials look

less risky than they were to lenders.

We learned that Sam believed that his curly hair was the source of his powers and helped

...