The Trial of Crypto’s Golden Boy: Opening Arguments

With a jury selected, lawyers from the prosecution and defense make their opening statements. Rachel Humphreys and WSJ’s Caitlin Ostroff get their first clues into some of the strategies that will unfold throughout the trial.

Listen HERE - The Trial of Crypto’s Golden Boy: Opening Arguments

The Trial of Crypto’s Golden Boy, Episode 2: Imaginary Numbers - The Journal

In 2022, crypto markets were in turmoil, but Sam Bankman-Fried's empire seemed to weather it all. That is until one week in November, when he went from crypto's savior to its biggest villain. WSJ’s Caitlin Ostroff tracks the unprecedented collapse of Bankman Fried’s empire, and the big secret that would prove to be its downfall.

Listen HERE - The Trial of Crypto’s Golden Boy, Episode 2: Imaginary Numbers

The Trial of Crypto’s Golden Boy, Episode 1: The Limit Does Not Exist - The Journal

Before his downfall, Sam Bankman-Fried drew comparisons to Warren Buffett, J.P. Morgan and other titans of finance. As his trial approaches, WSJ’s Caitlin Ostroff charts the meteoric rise of crypto’s golden boy, exploring how he sold customers and powerful people on his ideas, while hiding secrets under the hood of his flashy crypto empire.

Listen HERE - The Trial of Crypto’s Golden Boy, Episode 1: The Limit Does Not Exist

How Involved Were SBF's Parents?

FTX has sued Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried, claiming they enriched themselves by siphoning off millions of dollars in “fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds” from the cryptocurrency exchange their son founded. 

In a court filing earlier this week, the FTX debtors said Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, both of whom are tenured professors at Stanford Law School, used their influence to funnel money from the business to themselves and their pet charitable causes. 

Bankman, a tax lawyer, also lavished gifts upon his friends and family using FTX funds, they alleged, including, flights and tickets to the Formula One Grand Prix in France. 

Fried used her influence to obtain millions of dollars in donations from Bankman-Fried and an associate for Mind the Gap, a Super Pac she co-founded to help Democrats win office in the 2020 US election cycle. She further pressured “certain FTX Insiders to unlawfully avoid (if not violate) federal campaign finance law”, the debtors allege.

The Fake Genius: a $30 BILLION Fraud

Sam Bankman-Fried was supposed to be a billionaire genius running the world's largest Crypto exchange: FTX. In only a few weeks, his $32B empire crumbled, leading to his arrest. In this video, we unravel one of the decade's most significant cases of financial fraud.

FTX: the legend of Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency exchange, exploded onto the scene in just a few years. Endorsed by celebrities and accepted by the establishment, it attracted big-name investors and was valued at $32bn before it collapsed in a matter of days. Regulators fell for it, venture capitalists fell for it, celebrities fell for it - everyone fell for the legend of Sam

FTX wants politicians and PACs to return their donations

FTX and its affiliated debtors have sent confidential letters asking politicians, PACs and other recipients of funds to return donations made by the crypto exchange once valued at $32 billion.

The recipients are being asked to return donations — or potentially face repercussions — to the now-bankrupt exchange, according to a Sunday statement from FTX.

Get all the details HERE.

Crypto: The World’s Greatest Scam

Bitcoin to Blockchains, to NFTs, to Web 3.0... it's time to find out if it's really all the hype or just part of one of the greatest scams in human history.

SBF Blames Everyone But Himself

Sam Bankman Fried recently released a substack post were he deflects blame for the FTX collapse. 

SBF's substack post can be read HERE.

99% of crypto is a scam

Economist Nouriel Roubini has ratcheted up his fiery commentary on the stricken cryptocurrency industry, particularly toward FTX and its now-disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, commonly known as SBF.

"FTX and SBF are not an exception — they're a rule," the NYU professor, who is known as "Dr. Doom" for his dire perspectives on global trends, said on Yahoo Finance Live at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

"Literally 99% of crypto is a scam. A criminal activity. A total real-bubble Ponzi scheme that is going bust."

Get the full story and watch the interview HERE.

Prosecutors Step Up Pressure on Bankman-Fried's Associates

US authorities are ratcheting up pressure on Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle as they scrutinize former close FTX associate Nishad Singh, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg's Sonali Basak reports.