TheStreet’s J.D. Durkin brings the latest business headlines from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as markets close for Thursday, March 28.
FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
J.D. Durkin: I’m J.D. Durkin – reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.
Today marks the final trading day of the month, and all three major indexes are on pace to finish both the month and the first quarter of 2024 in positive territory. Markets will be closed on March 29th for Good Friday, but investors will be keeping an eye out for the latest PCE report, which the Federal Reserve pays closest attention to when deciding its path forward on interest rates.
In other news – former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for defrauding customers and investors. The sentence is lighter than the 40 to 50 years sought by federal prosecutors, and far less than the maximum of 110 years he could have faced.
Before announcing the lighter sentence, the judge presiding over the case said “this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it’s not a trivial risk.”
In November of 2023, Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
FTX was one of the largest digital currency exchange platforms and, at its peak was worth more than $30 billion. But the crypto empire crumbled quickly, with Bankman-Fried using customer funds for personal purchases, as well as covering up bad business decisions. Prosecutors claimed more than $8 billion of FTX customers’ money has gone missing.
In addition to the prison sentence, Sam Bankman-Fried – who was once worth $32 billion – was ordered to forfeit $11.2 billion.
That’ll do it for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m J.D. Durkin with TheStreet.
