Sam Bankman-Fried, who was born in the Bahamas, was living as a celebrity-backed startup in the Bahamas, surrounded by fans and friends who believed he was the real deal. A visionary who left the Wall Street trail to chart his own course. A philanthropist building a fortune which he intended to give away completely, he said.
This week, Trump will stand trial in what federal prosecutors have called one of the biggest frauds in US history.
SBF, 31, also known as Bankman-Fried, admitted not guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the collapse of FTX, his crypto-trading platform. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
What's the key thing to know about the case, and what we will see at trial over the next few weeks.
Prosecutors alleged that SBF stole billions of dollars from FTX customer funds for personal use and to cover large losses incurred by Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund he also controlled.
The investors in FTX also say that SBF defrauded them by covering up the scheme.
Prosecutors sever five other charges that were brought after Bankman-Fried's extradition from the Bahamas, where FTX was based. A separate trial will begin on those charges in March.
FTX was launched as a simple, safe portal for cryptocurrency trading. It made profits by collecting fees on customers' trades, similar to a typical brokerage.
In 2021, digital asset valuations shot up, so did FTX's profile. At its peak, the company paid a private valuation of more than $30 billion. It plastered its name across a Miami basketball stadium and won celebrity endorsements from Tom Brady and Larry David, both of whom starred in Super Bowl ads for FTX.
In the spring of 2022, the volatility of the cryptocurrency market took a toll on the entire industry, causing the entire industry to fall to $1 trillion from $3 trillion.
By November, cracks in FTX's foundation had begun to show, and it took just over a week for it to come crashing down.
Investors and customers began to panic after a report from Cryptonews site Coindesk that raised serious questions about the financial links between FTX and Alameda, two ostensibly separate businesses founded by Bankman-Fried. Alameda's assets consisted of FTT, a digital token created by FTX that was rapidly losing value, putting Alameda on a shaky financial basis, according to a document obtained by Coindesk.
Consumers rushed to withdraw their funds from FTX, revealing an $85 billion shortfall.
On November 11, FTX filed for bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO.
He was arrested on charges including fraud and conspiracy in the Bahamas in December and extradited to the United States in January.
Since his arrest, SBF has repeatedly spoken and written about his view of the case: He was an inexperienced businessman who got out over his skis, and he never knowingly committed fraud.
His lawyers have hinted in court documents that they will invoke an 'advice of counsel' defense. SBF didn't know his actions were illegal and he was following guidance from FTX's lawyers.
Bankman-Fried attributed Alameda's losses to its CEO, Caroline Ellison, who is also his ex-girlfriend.
Ellison, along with other former high-level associates, has pleaded guilty to a variety of charges in cooperation with prosecutors.
The biggest challenge for him is going to be that his former colleagues are going to testify against him, said Howard Fischer, a partner with Moses Singer and a former senior trial lawyer at the SEC. On top of this, FTX's new management, led by a restructuring expert who oversaw the liquidation of Enron, has been openly hostile to Bankman-Fried.
During that time SBF will remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been since Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked his bail on August 11 over SBF's efforts to intimidate witnesses.
What will happen if he is convicted of a crime?
If SBF was found guilty of all seven counts and given the maximum penalty, he would face 110 years in prison.