TheCorporateCounsel.net

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been on trial for the past month. Last night, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts, after deliberating for only a few hours. Sentencing is scheduled for March. Here’s more detail from CBS News:

The 31-year-old former cryptocurrency billionaire was convicted of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was also convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which each carry a five-year maximum sentence.

As my kindergartner would say: “Bruh, I can’t even.” The big verdict caps off a busy few weeks of crypto regulatory news. On the SEC front:

1. The SEC dismissed its lawsuit against Ripple (see Dave’s earlier blog)

2. “Crypto Mom” Hester Peirce published a dissent on the Commission’s enforcement action against LBRY

3. The SEC decided not to appeal the Grayscale ruling, which may open the door to a Bitcoin ETF

Meanwhile, states are also getting in on the action:

4. New York AG Letita James is accusing the Winklevoss twins (sorry, the Winklevii) of perpetuating fraud through their crypto exchange & crypto “lending platform”

5. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law to create a regulatory framework for crypto (following NY’s lead)

6. NASAA filed an amicus brief to support the SEC’s case against Coinbase

This is not an exhaustive list of developments! I am not sure that there is a “big picture” takeaway other than that fraud is still illegal, and as someone mostly observing from the sidelines, I’m also not sure whether these items collectively show that we are moving closer to a world of acceptable digital assets or further away.

– Liz Dunshee