The spectacle of Sam Bankman-Fried's trial

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Last week, the former crypto wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty for his role in the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The 31-year-old former billionaire fashioned himself as someone who would revolutionize the crypto industry, but now faces the prospect of a life sentence. Today on the show, NPR business correspondent David Gura tells us what stuck out over the course of the four-week trial.

Related Episodes:
A former teen idol takes on crypto (Apple Podcasts / Spotify)
The rise and fall of FTX (Apple Podcasts / Spotify)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:03.0	This is the indicator from Planet Money, I'm Whelan Wong.
0:15.0	Last week, the former crypto Wonderkin Sam Bankman Freed
0:19.0	was found guilty for his role in the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.
0:24.2	The 31-year-old former billionaire fashioned himself as someone who would revolutionize the
0:28.5	crypto industry, but he now faces the prospect of a life sentence.
0:34.5	Federal prosecutors focused on what they framed as a pretty simple case of fraud.
0:39.6	They said Sam Bakeman-freed siphoned billions of dollars from FTX customers to
0:44.1	FTX's sister company, a hedge fund called Alameda Research. The jury
0:48.6	deliberated for just a few hours before handing down its verdict.
0:52.6	And NPR Business Correspondent David Gura
0:54.8	was at the Manhattan courtroom for the four weeks of this trial.
0:58.6	After the break, we talked to David about what he saw
1:01.6	and what he can't unsee from the Sam Bakeman-freed trial.
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