From FTX 'King of Crypto' to being guilty of fraud - Tori of di fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, wey once run one of di world biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, don dey found guilty of fraud and money laundering at di end of one month-long trial for New York.

Di jury deliver dia verdict afta less dan five hours of deliberations.

E conclude di ogbonge fall from grace of di 31-year-old former billionaire and one of di most public faces of di crypto industry.

Authorities arrest Bankman-Fried last year afta im firm, FTX, go bankrupt.

Now, e dey face decades for prison. Dem don set im sentencing for 28 March next year.

"Sam Bankman-Fried carry out one of di biggest financial frauds inside American history - a multibillion-dollar scheme wey dey designed to make am di king of crypto," US attorney Damian Williams tok for statement afta di verdict.

"Dis case don always dey about lying, cheating and stealing, and we no get patience for am," e add.

Prosecutors bin accuse Bankman-Fried of lying to investors and lenders and stealing billions of dollars from cryptocurrency exchange FTX, helping to to make am collapse. Dem charge am with seven counts of fraud and money laundering.

E bin plead not guilty to all di charges, maintaining say, while e bin make mistakes, e bin act in good faith.

Na around 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT) on Monday, 12 December, 2022 officers of di Bahamas Financial Crimes Investigation Unit arrest Sam Bankman-Fried for im apartment complex, for Nassau, at di request of US government, based on a sealed indictment wey di Southern District of New York (SDNY) bin file.

Di man wey dem formerly nickname di "King Of Crypto" see im company collapse, step down as chief executive and face criminal investigation.

Mr Bankman-Fried - di former boss of cryptocurrency exchange FTX - na ogbonge gamer. And inside tweets to im nearly one million followers, e explain why. Playing di team fantasy battle game na im way to get im mind to switch off from running two companies trading billions of dollars a day.

"Some people drink too much; some gamble. I play League," e bin tok.

FTX get around 1.2 million registered users wey bin dey use di exchange to buy cryptocurrency tokens like Bitcoin and thousands more.

From big traders to regular crypto fans, all of dem don dey wonder if dem go ever get di savings wey dey trapped for FTX digital wallet.

Na downfall wey cause pipo eye to spin and di rise of oga Bankman-Fried sef get im own ogbonge tori of risks, rewards and beanbags,

Sam Bankman-Fred bin study physics and maths for di Massachusetts Institute of of Technology (MIT) wey be ogbonge US research university.

But e say na wetin e learn for di student dorms na im helep am to become rich.

For one BBC radio interview, e say e enta di "effective altruism" movement. E explain am as community of pipo "wey dey try to find di tin you fit do with your life wey go get as much positive impact as you fit for dis world.".

Na wetin e say make am enta banking, so e go fit make money well-well and chook am for good causes.

E learn how to trade stocks for im short stay for Jane Street trading firm for New York before e dey boring to am and e decide to experiment with Bitcoin.

E notice say di value of Bitcoin for different cryptocurrency exchanges dey different.

So, e start to dey buy Bitcoin wen e cheap and sell am wen e cost, dem call am arbitraging.

Afta one month of small-small profit, e gada some college friends to start di trading business e call Alameda Research.

Oga Bankman-Fried say e no easy and e bin take months for am to perfect di systems to move money in and out of banks and across borders. But afta about three months, im and im small team hit jackpot.

By January 2018, im team don dey make $1m evriday.

On reporter from CNBC bin ask am how e feel, e say "for my head according to di methodology, e make sense, but emotionally, e dey surprise me everyday".

Sam Bankman-Fried become official billionaire for 2021 sake of im second and bigger business, FTX. Di crypto exchange become di second biggest for di world and bin dey trade $10-$15bn per day.

For early 2022, FTX bin dey worth $32bn with NBA stadium wey dem name afta am and celebrities like NFL Tom Brady wey dey back am.

All di while, Mr Bankman-Fried dey happy to dey give im Twitter followers insight into im lifestyle. E dey mainly sleep ontop beanbag next to im desk for office, e tok, with foto of am dey lie down next to im staff for dia trading terminals.

Inside anoda one e post for di early hours of di morning. "Couldn't sleep. Back to di office," e write.

Oga Bankman-Fried dream to give plenti money to charity bin don start, for BBC radio interview, e tok say e don give away, "a few hundred million as at now".

And im no only stop for charities, e bin dey give out hundreds of millions in bailout cash to oda companies in di industry as di price of cryptocurrencies, bin dey fall dey go for 2022.

E claim for interview with CNBC say e get reserve $2bn to help failing crypto companies.

But soon, na im dey go round dis industry to raise money to save im own company and customers.

Questions about di real financial stability of FTX start to dey circulate after one article for di CoinDesk website wey suggest say much of Mr Bankman-Fried trading giant Alameda Research dey rest on a foundation wey dey largely made up of a coin wey a sister company of FTX invent, not independent asset.

Further accusations say Alameda Research use FTX customer deposits as loans for trading come out for di Wall Street Journal.

Di beginning of di end come though wen FTX main competitor - Binance - publicly sell off all im crypto tokens wey dey linked to FTX a few days later.

Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao tell im 7.5 million followers say im company go sell off di holdings "in light of recent revelations".

E start di kiti kata as customers wey dey fear start to withdraw billions of dollars from di cryptocurrency exchange.

Dem bin pause withdrawals as oga Bankman-Fried bin dey try get bailout. Even at some point Binance bin dey play with di idea to buy FTX before dem comot hand.

Binance say na tori of "mishandled customer funds and alleged US agency investigations" make dem change dia mind.

One day afta, FTX bin dey declared bankrupt.

Oga Bankman-Fried go back to tweet sorry to im customers say dem reach wia dem dey and say im shock am how everytin scata.