Quick Sam Bankman-Fried Verdict Is Unusual for Big White-Collar Case
(Bloomberg) -- A jury convicted FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried within hours of beginning deliberations, an unusually swift verdict after a monthlong trial in a complex white-collar case.
The jury in Manhattan federal court found Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts against him Thursday, the same day they were given the case.Â
By comparison, jurors took eight days before finding Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty of fraud in January 2022 after a four-month trial. A jury also took eight days to convict WorldCom Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bernie Ebbers of accounting fraud after hearing five weeks of testimony in 2005. Â
Defendants usually take hope in lengthy deliberations, but they aren't always the result of jurors debating the defendants' innocence or guilt. Sometimes jurors just want to be extra careful in making sure they understand legal terms or heard testimony correctly. In cases involving multiple counts, jurors may agree on some but not others.
Longer deliberations can indicate a hung jury though. In 2015, jurors considering fraud and larceny charges against executives at collapsed New York law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf deliberated for more than 20 days before declaring they were hopelessly deadlocked and forcing a mistrial. A 2017 retrial resulted in the conviction of the firm's former finance chief.
Some other white-collar defendants have seen juries return within hours. Glen Point Capital co-founder Neil Phillips was found guilty in October of manipulating the foreign-exchange market after about four hours of deliberation. Jurors took around six hours to convict Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton of misleading investors in his electric truck startup.
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