Cryptocurrency has attracted the ambitious, the bold, and the risk-takers—those willing to bet everything for the chance at unimaginable wealth. But how much ambition is too much?
For some of the industry’s biggest names, the quest for dominance led them from luxury to legal troubles, with their rapid ascent followed by an equally swift downfall. Their stories now stand as cautionary tales of ambition gone awry. So, here’s a look at the fall of three crypto kings:
Sam Bankman-Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, was once considered the modern-day J.P. Morgan. At his peak, he was estimated to be worth $26.5 billion and lived in a $30 million Bahamas penthouse. However, today, Bankman-Fried finds himself spending his time in a low-security federal prison in San Pedro, California.
SBF was born on March 6, 1992. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a physics degree and a mathematics minor. In 2014, he joined Jane Street Capital, a quantitative trading firm, where he focused on arbitrage trading, particularly in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Three years later, he left the firm as he dipped his toes in crypto.
He began by buying Bitcoin in the US and selling it for a profit in Asian markets. In September 2017, he founded Alameda Research, recruiting a small team.
In 2019, SBF launched the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, turning it into a global powerhouse within two years. By 2021, FTX had moved to the Bahamas, and Bankman-Fried was a billionaire.
“As of 11:30 am Thursday morning, he is the 25th richest person in America and the 64th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. Only Mark Zuckerberg, who hit $28.5 billion at age 29, has been richer at this young age,” Forbes wrote on October 21, 2021.
The facade crumbled in November 2022 when FTX filed for bankruptcy. An estimated $8.7 billion in customer funds was discovered to be missing.
It was revealed that FTX had used customer deposits to fund risky bets through its sister company, Alameda Research, violating basic principles of financial safety and transparency.
In December 2022, local authorities arrested the crypto king Bankman-Fried in his Bahamas penthouse and extradited him to the US. In January 2023, Bankman-Fried entered a not-guilty plea to the charges.
However, on March 28, 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.
“Samuel Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, 32, of Stanford, California, was sentenced today to 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture for his orchestration of multiple fraudulent schemes,” the DOJ noted.
Despite the conviction, SBF’s hopes of getting out have not died down. In 2025, the once-crypto king started appealing to President Trump for a pardon. This was quite ironic, given that SBF was the second-largest donor to the Democratic Party in the 2020 election.
The pardon efforts have yet to yield anything. Nevertheless, Business Insider revealed earlier this week that SBF could be released from prison in December 2044.
“While the BOP does not comment on specific inmates’ conditions of confinement, a spokesman told Business Insider that release dates are calculated by considering projected ‘Good Conduct Time.’ Qualifying people serving prison time are eligible to earn 54 days for each year of their sentence,” the article read.
Aiden Pleterski
Aiden Pleterski, a 26-year-old from Ontario, Canada, gained notoriety as the self-proclaimed “Crypto King.” He kicked off his crypto journey in high school, trading digital coins for video game perks.
By 2020, Pleterski was deep. By 2021, he’d upgraded to a multi-million-dollar mansion in Burlington, Ontario. His parents also chipped in CAD50,000 and got luxury cars in return, signaling his early success.
“Mr Pleterski gave his parents a return on their investment, they said, in addition to luxury gifts – a McLaren 60LT and BMW M8 for his dad, a Louis Vuitton bag and Burberry coat for his mother, and a 2017 Bentley Bentayga for the couple’s wedding anniversary,” BBC reported.
Pleterski lived large and loud. His Instagram flaunted private jets, exotic getaways, and a garage full of luxury cars. It was a teenage dream turned millionaire fantasy—until it wasn’t.
Between 2021 and 2022, Pleterski and his company, AP Private Equity Ltd., reportedly raised CAD 41.5 million ($30.5 million) from investors by promising high returns through cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investments.
Problems started to arise in 2022 when lawsuits accused him of misappropriating funds. The Ontario Superior Court froze his assets in July and declared him and his company bankrupt by August.
Reports indicated that Pleterski only invested about 1.6% of the investor funds. Meanwhile, he allegedly spent at least CAD 16 million on luxury cars, private jet travel, and a lakefront mansion.
Then came the shocking turn of events. In December 2022, he was reportedly kidnapped and held for ransom for days. During this time, Pleterski was allegedly beaten and tortured. Additionally, his captors demanded a CAD 3 million ransom from his landlord.
CBC obtained a video of Pleterski, appearing bruised and apologetic. Pleterski’s father testified that his son was freed after agreeing to quickly provide money to his kidnappers and not to involve the police.
“He was taken. They basically held him for approximately three days, drove him around different, various parts of southern Ontario, beat him, tortured him, allowed him to make specific phone calls to specific people only. I was not one of those people that he was allowed to contact,” Pleterski’s father stated.
On May 14, 2024, police arrested Pleterski on fraud charges. However, his parents posted a CAD 100,000 bail and released him.
“Mr. Pleterski has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000 contrary to Section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, and one count of laundering proceeds of Canadian crime contrary to Section 462.31(1)(a) of the Criminal Code. The allegations involving Mr. Pleterski are covered by a publication ban issued on May 14, 2024 pursuant to subsection 517(1) of the Criminal Code,” the Ontario Securities Commission wrote.
The crypto king now faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
Alex Mashinsky
Alex Mashinsky was a serial entrepreneur who founded Celsius Network in 2017. It was a borrowing and lending platform for digital assets. He cultivated quite an image with “Banks are not your friends” T-shirts and “Ask Mashinsky Anything” YouTube streams.
During the pandemic, Celsius gained popularity by offering loans and high interest rates on crypto deposits. Mashinsky touted Celsius as an alternative to banks that benefits users.
“I personally have over $160 million worth of my assets on Celsius right next to yours. So if you have bitcoin, I have bitcoin right next to you, earning exactly the same amount of interest. I earn 6 per cent, you earn 6 per cent, right. So we don’t treat anyone differently no matter how big they are. And that’s really the beauty,” Mashinsky told BeInCrypto in an exclusive interview.
By March 2021, Celsius had exceeded $10 billion in digital assets. However, the rise came to a halt in 2022. In April, Celsius announced it would hold non-accredited investors’ coins in custody, halting new deposits and rewards.
The situation deteriorated with the Terra Luna collapse, which triggered a market-wide sell-off and exacerbated Celsius’s liquidity issues. In June, it paused customer withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy in July. A court filing revealed Celsius had a $1.2 billion hole in its balance sheet.
In September, Mashinsky stepped down as CEO. Moreover, a Statement of Financial Affairs filed by Celsius showed that he had withdrawn $10 million from the company in May 2022.
He faced a series of charges from the US Government, Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as well as a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In July 2023, Mashinsky was indicted on seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and market manipulation charges and arrested. In December 2024, he pleaded guilty to two counts.
On May 8, 2025, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In addition, the court ordered Mashinsky to forfeit $48.39 million.
“Alexander Mashinsky targeted retail investors with promises that he would keep their ‘digital assets’ safer than a bank, when in fact he used those assets to place risky bets and to line his own pockets. In the end, Mashinsky made tens of millions of dollars while his customers lost billions. America’s investors deserve better,” US Attorney Jay Clayton remarked.
Thus, these sagas reveal the double-edged sword of cryptocurrency. With the massive downfall, these crypto kings remind us that in the race for riches, ruin can come just as fast.
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