Crypto supporter and US Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been found guilty on 34 felony counts by a jury in Manhattan.
According to widespread reports and a press release from Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg, the former president was found guilty yesterday on all counts of “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal his illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.”
According to DA Bragg,
“Donald Trump is guilty of repeatedly and fraudulently falsifying business records in a scheme to conceal damaging information from American voters during the 2016 presidential election. Over the course of the past several weeks, a jury of 12 everyday New Yorkers was presented with overwhelming evidence – including invoices, checks, bank statements, audio recordings, phone logs, text messages, and direct testimony from 22 witnesses – that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Trump illegally falsified 34 New York business records.
Mr. Trump went to illegal lengths to lie repeatedly in order to protect himself and his campaign. In Manhattan, we follow the facts without fear or favor and have a solemn responsibility to ensure equal justice under the law regardless of the background, wealth or power of the accused. The integrity of our judicial system depends on upholding that principle.”
Donald Trump is the first former president in US history to be convicted of a felony.
Some critics have accused Trump’s crypto support of being opportunistic at best and predatory at worst. In 2018, before crypto holders formed a major voting block, the then-president suggested he would “go after Bitcoin [for fraud.]”
In 2021, Trump doubled down on his dismissal of the crypto community, saying in an interview that he was not invested in digital assets, suggesting that the technology is “fake.”
“I like the currency of the United States. I think the others are potentially a disaster waiting to happen.”
However, with crypto becoming a campaign issue in 2024, the former reality TV star has recently changed his tune. After releasing a series of widely panned non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2022, Trump more recently began asking for campaign donations in crypto.
The former president has also recently promised to protect crypto holders and their rights to self-custody.
Earlier this week, Arkham revealed that Trump holds $7.1 million worth of MAGA (TRUMP), a memecoin inspired by his likeness, in addition to $1.83 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) and a series of smaller altcoins.
TRUMP is trading for $15.98 at time of writing, up 20% in the last 24 hours.
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Featured Image: Shutterstock/rifkhas/Nikelser Kate
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