FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was guilty of defrauding customers on his popular cryptocurrency exchange out of billions of dollars, a federal jury concluded on Thursday.

After four hours of deliberation, the 12-member Manhattan panel convicted Bankman-Fried of two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy, Reuters reports.

The executive had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The crypto billionaire was once worth $26bn, and his rapid fall is one of the highest-profile financial scandals in modern US history.

Federal prosecutors accused the executive, once a darling of the business press, of taking FTX customers’ money and using it to pay off the debts of Alameda Research, a related cryptocurrency hedge fund Bankman-Fried founded in 2017, as well as make luxury real estate purchases and political donations.

The government’s star witness was Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda and Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend.

She testified that the crypto kingpin, known colloquially as “SBF,” directed her multiple times to pull money from FTX customer accounts and use it for outside purposes.

SBF’s conviction could carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison.

The former executive’s sentencing is set for March of 2024.

He is widely expected to appeal the verdict.

The Independent has contacted Bankman-Fried’s lawyer for comment.

After the verdict US attorney Damian Williams said: “Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. The cryptocurrency industry might be new. The players, like Sam Bankman-Fried, might be new. But this kind of corruption is as old as time.”

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