Here are a few well-known figures in the crypto world who have gone from peak success to losing everything, and even finding themselves in prison, with the core outcomes being wealth drop to zero + legal accountability/career collapse.

Core Case Overview

1. Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) — Founder of FTX
At its peak, the net worth was approximately $26 billion. In November 2022, FTX collapsed and filed for bankruptcy, causing his wealth to plummet 94% in a single day and drop to zero. He was indicted by U.S. prosecutors on seven felony charges, and in November 2023, all charges were convicted, facing a maximum of 110 years in prison, with client losses exceeding $8 billion.
2. Do Kwon — Founder of Terra/LUNA
Stanford graduate, in May 2022, its algorithmic stablecoin UST depegged, and the price of LUNA dropped to zero, with a market value evaporating by over $40 billion, causing huge losses for global investors, with about 200,000 people in South Korea losing everything; in August 2025, fraud was admitted, and in December, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
3. Su Zhu & Kyle Davies—founders of Three Arrows Capital (3AC)
A peak management scale of over 10 billion US dollars for a crypto hedge fund, which filed for bankruptcy in multiple countries in 2022 due to the LUNA crash and high leverage liquidation. The assets were frozen, the founder went missing for a time, and ultimately, the wealth dropped to zero and the career completely collapsed.
4. Alex Mashinsky - Founder of Celsius Network
The crypto lending platform Celsius went bankrupt during the "crypto winter" of 2022, with users losing over $4.7 billion; he was sued for fraud, his personal wealth dropped to zero, faced criminal charges, and was previously restricted from leaving the country.
5. Aiden Pleterski—Canada's "Crypto King"
At the age of 26, he considered himself the "King of Cryptocurrency," using funds to buy luxury homes, luxury cars, and private jets. In August 2022, he was declared bankrupt by the court, his assets were frozen, and he was suspected of misappropriating investors' funds, ultimately leading to his disgrace and having nothing left.

The commonality of these cases is: high leverage, illegal misappropriation of funds, unanchored financial innovation, lack of risk control, ultimately triggering liquidity crises and legal accountability.

Do you need me to organize the key timelines, triggers for the explosions, and final accountability results of these cases into a one-page quick reference table for you to compare quickly?