A New York City jury convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of fraud on Thursday after less than 5 hours of deliberation. He was found guilty of all 7 charges, with sentencing to take place on March 28, 2024. Bankman-Fried may also have to face another set of criminal charges that allege he committed bank fraud and bribed Chinese officials. Yahoo Finance Legal Reporter Alexis Keenan joins the Live show to break down everything involved in the trial and the decision handed down by the jury.

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Video Transcript

BRAD SMITH: But we've got to switch gears here and talk Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been found guilty of all seven charges. He was facing, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Here now, with the details is our own Alexis Keenan. Hey, Alexis.

ALEXIS KEENAN: Good morning. Yeah. It was a very somber and tense in that courtroom last night. The jury deliberating for just under, I would say, four hours. So this was an incredibly swift verdict. Finding Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven charges brought by the Justice Department. Those charges-- wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, as well as securities fraud, and commodities fraud, and money laundering. Together when you add up all of these charges, they have consequences of 110 years in prison.

Bankman-Fried will likely be sentenced to far less than that, a fraction of that. But nonetheless, could result in decades behind bars. He is also facing another set of criminal charges that the government has to decide by February, whether they will actually bring those charges. They're related to bank fraud, and also campaign finance donations that the government says are illegal.

Now, the jury heard evidence about what Bankman-Fried told investors, lenders, customers about the deposits on FTX's exchange versus what he actually did with the money. We now know that his hedge fund, Alameda Research, was using that money, leveraging it, spending it on real estate, on political donations, and other expenditures, other investment, large multi-billion dollar investments using that money. And they did not believe Bankman-Fried's testimony, when he got up, took the stand, and in his own words, said, as CEO, that he did not know that Alameda had accrued a whole of $10 to $14 billion using those customer assets.

So the jury not buying his own words there. But guys, Bankman-Fried has potentially a long road ahead. He may still be facing other charges.

AKIKO FUJITA: Alexis, I wonder if you can put this in context for us. Because I know you've covered a lot of legal cases. White collar crime, specifically-- we're talking about this during Elizabeth Holmes as well. Don't always see it prosecuted with the way in which this was right. We're talking about a big scale. Now, he's been charged with fraud here. But can you speak to how significant this is in the context of past cases that we have seen. Four-week trial four hours of deliberation, 110 years potentially.

ALEXIS KEENAN: Yeah. Most recently, I covered the Elizabeth Holmes case. And she was facing 144 years in prison. That case, though, took six, seven years to bring her to justice. But definitely, the Justice Department is interested in cases that have a lot of media attention like this one. Because it can send a message about this type of behavior.

And so certainly, with so much debate still about whether cryptocurrencies are commodities, whether they're securities. And we saw a mix of that in this case. With that being unsettled, the Justice Department does want to send a message that this kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated. Of course, on the security side, there are regulations in place, reporting in place that can protect assets when it comes to investors. But on the commodities side, in terms of Bitcoin, which seems to be somewhat settled, that's a different story because the laws do not require as much reporting. So customers are a bit more vulnerable there.

So certainly, this case would be exemplary for the Justice Department and is certainly meant to send a message.

AKIKO FUJITA: And Sam Bankman-Fried set to be sentenced in March. We should point out, by the way--

ALEXIS KEENAN: March 28.

AKIKO FUJITA: --his Inner circle, closest inner circle also still need to be sentenced. We're talking--

ALEXIS KEENAN: They do.

AKIKO FUJITA: --about his former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, who led Alameda, among that group. That's expected to take-- what? Next year.

ALEXIS KEENAN: Yes. So three top executives will be sentenced next year. And the reason that is put off is because the government has entered deals with them for their testimony, for their cooperation during the year that they put together this case through their testimony at trial. The government wants to make sure that they got up on that stand, told the truth, and lived up to their promises before they're going to get their sentences. Because all of that behavior will be considered when it's time for them to stand up in front of a judge and receive their consequences for the actions that they pled guilty to.