Sam Bankman-Fried

American former entrepreneur and ex-billionaire, also known by the initialism SBF, who in 2023 was convicted of fraud. Bankman-Fried was the founder and CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and associated trading firm Alameda Research, both of which experienced a high-profile collapse resulting in chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2022.

Prior to FTX's collapse, Bankman-Fried was ranked the 41st richest American in the Forbes 400, and the 60th richest person in world by The World's Billionaires. His net worth peaked at $26 billion. By 11 November 2022, amid the bankruptcy of FTX, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index considered his net worth to have been reduced to zero. Before his wealth evaporated, Bankman-Fried was a major donor to political campaigns, donating mostly to Democratic candidates and claimed that he planned to spend around $1 billion in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

On 12 December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and was subsequently extradited to the United States. An indictment of him before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York was unsealed on 13 December, revealing eight criminal charges for offenses including wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance law violations; Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison if convicted on all eight counts. On 22 December, Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond, on condition that he reside at his parents' home in California.

In United States v. Bankman-Fried, on 2 November 2023, he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy on all seven counts. His sentencing is scheduled for 28 March 2024. A second trial, for five additional charges including bank fraud and bribery, is scheduled for early March 2024.

Born on the campus of Stanford University into a Jewish family, he is the son of Barbara Fried (born 10 November 1951) and Joseph Bankman (born 15 August 1955), both professors at Stanford Law School.