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Quick answers
When did FTX collapse?
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.
The public story is compressed: a leaked balance sheet, a run, a bankruptcy, cooperating pleas, and a one-month trial.
The beats below follow CoinDesk, the Delaware petitions, and the SDNY docket.
Beats
- Exchange, token, trading firm
FTX grew as a crypto exchange with a related token (FTT) and a sibling trading firm, Alameda. Celebrity marketing and political donations made the founder a public figure.
- A balance sheet goes public
CoinDesk's 2 November 2022 article on Alameda's holdings made the concentration of FTT and related assets a market fact. Binance's response accelerated withdrawals.
- Chapter 11 and a new CEO
On 11 November 2022 FTX entities filed bankruptcy. John J. Ray III took control and told Congress the record-keeping was among the worst he had seen.
- Arrest and cooperators
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022. Ellison, Wang, and Singh pleaded guilty and aligned with the government.
- Verdict and 25 years
The jury convicted on 2 November 2023. Kaplan imposed 25 years on 28 March 2024. The estate continued a separate recovery process.
The story on the public record is a completed fraud conviction plus a bankruptcy that later surprised many on recovery -- two ledgers, one verdict.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.