FTX collapsed in November 2022. A Manhattan jury convicted Sam Bankman-Fried in 2023 of fraud; in 2024 the court imposed a 25-year sentence.
Also called: Sam Bankman-Fried · Alameda Research
FTX Trading Ltd. and related companies, a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange group founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, halted withdrawals and filed for Chapter 11 protection in the District of Delaware on 11 November 2022. A leaked Alameda Research balance sheet, a run after Binance's public comments, and the exchange's inability to meet customer redemptions had ended a firm that had been valued in the tens of billions in private markets earlier that year.
John J. Ray III, appointed chief executive in the bankruptcy, told the U.S. House that control of assets and records was unusually poor. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged Bankman-Fried with conspiracy and fraud offenses alleging that customer funds had been used by Alameda Research, a related trading firm. Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh pleaded guilty and cooperated.
On 2 November 2023 a Manhattan jury convicted Bankman-Fried on all seven counts tried, including wire fraud and conspiracy counts involving customers and lenders. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced him on 28 March 2024 to 25 years in prison and ordered forfeiture later described in the judgment as on the order of $11 billion. The bankruptcy estate later reported substantial recoveries for allowed customer claims, a separate ledger from the criminal sentence.
CollapseNovember 2022
PlaceBahamas / United States
CourtU.S. District, SDNY
VerdictGuilty (2 Nov 2023)
Sentence25 years (2024)
StatusConvicted
Dossier scores
Notoriety 90
Mystery 20
Scale 86
Evidence 78
Legal impact 72
Culture 84
Notoriety
90
Mystery
20
Scale
86
Evidence
78
Legal impact
72
Culture
84
What the FTX record actually shows
The SDNY trial record, cooperating pleas, the Delaware bankruptcy, and contemporaneous 2022 reporting are the primary sources. They describe a completed fraud conviction, not an unsolved disappearance of a chain.
An exchange and a trading firm
FTX presented itself as a customer exchange. Alameda Research, also controlled by Bankman-Fried, was a trading firm. Trial evidence and pleas described Alameda as having a special position at FTX and as using assets that customers of the exchange treated as theirs.
The criminal theory, which the jury accepted, was that statements about segregation and risk were false and that the misuse of customer property was a scheme to obtain and keep money. This page does not reconstruct internal transfer mechanics.
Eight days in November 2022
On 2 November 2022 CoinDesk published a piece on Alameda's balance sheet that made the concentration of FTT token and related assets a public fact. Changpeng Zhao of Binance announced an intent to sell FTT. Withdrawals surged.
A proposed Binance acquisition collapsed after diligence. FTX entities filed Chapter 11 on 11 November. Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on 12 December 2022 and later extradited to the United States.
Pleas and a short trial
Ellison (Alameda's last CEO), Wang (a co-founder), and Singh (a senior engineer) pleaded guilty in 2022-2023 and testified or were available to the government. Their pleas removed much of the 'who knew' mystery before opening statements.
The October-November 2023 trial lasted about a month. The jury convicted on all seven counts. A second superseding set of charges had been deferred and was later dropped as unnecessary after the verdict.
Bankruptcy beside the criminal case
Ray's estate sold investments, litigated, and built a claims process. By 2024-2025 public estate reports described recoveries that, in nominal dollars, could cover a very large share of allowed customer claims -- a result many November 2022 headlines did not expect.
Criminal forfeiture and bankruptcy distributions are different processes. Customer outcomes in Chapter 11 do not erase the jury's findings about 2022 conduct.
Withdrawals failed in the first week of November 2022 after a CoinDesk report on Alameda's balance sheet and a public spat over the FTT token. Chapter 11 petitions were filed on 11 November 2022.
What was Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of?
On 2 November 2023 a Southern District of New York jury convicted him on seven counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers and lenders, and related conspiracy counts (securities, commodities, and money-laundering conspiracies as charged).
What sentence did he receive?
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan imposed 25 years on 28 March 2024, plus forfeiture set out in the judgment. He appealed. The trial-court sentence is the encyclopedia's recorded term unless an appellate court changes it.
Who cooperated?
Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh pleaded guilty and cooperated with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Their pleas and testimony were central to the government's case.
What was Alameda Research?
A trading firm founded by Bankman-Fried before FTX and still under his control. Prosecutors and cooperators described it as the entity that used FTX customer assets. Ellison was its CEO at the collapse.
Did customers get money back?
The Delaware bankruptcy estate reported substantial recoveries and a claims process that, in later public updates, pointed toward high nominal recovery on allowed customer claims. That civil result is separate from the criminal conviction.
Where was FTX based?
Operating companies were associated with the Bahamas (and other entities elsewhere). The criminal case was tried in Manhattan. The bankruptcy is in Delaware. The place line in this atlas is therefore Bahamas / United States.
Is the case still a mystery?
The jury found fraud. Open questions are appellate issues, the last bankruptcy distributions, and how much of the 2022 shortfall was price decline versus misuse -- historiography and accounting, not an unsolved disappearance.