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Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, arrives on the day of a hearing at Manhattan federal court in New York City, January 3, 2023.

David Dee Delgado | Reuters

In Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial, prosecutors won quickly by keeping it simple.

Jurors needed only about three hours of deliberations to find the FTX founder guilty of seven criminal counts, which could amount to a life sentence. For a high-profile monthlong trial that involved nearly 20 witnesses and hundreds of exhibits, experts told CNBC they’d never seen such a speedy decision.

“The jury came back in next to no time on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, a charge that is notoriously difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in typical cases, especially for complex financial wrongdoing,” said Yesha Yadav, professor of law and associate dean at Vanderbilt University.

Working in the government’s favor was a basic fact that’s accepted by just about everyone: stealing money is wrong.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed that $10 billion in customer money that was sitting in FTX’s crypto exchange went missing, with some of it going toward payments for real estate, recalled loans, venture investments, and political donations. They also agreed that Bankman-Fried was calling the shots.

The key question for jurors was one of intent. Did Bankman-Fried knowingly commit fraud in directing those payouts with FTX customer cash, or did he simply make some mistakes along the way?

Nicolas Roos and Danielle Sassoon, the two assistant U.S. attorneys who led the prosecution’s case through the trial, continuously reminded investors that billions of dollars went missing at the expense of ordinary investors. Crypto may be complicated because it’s unregulated and has been difficult to categorize as a currency, commodity or something else. But Roos and Sassoon emphasized how little any of that mattered to the case at hand.

The prosecution called as its first witness a London-based cocoa bean trader who lost $100,000 on FTX. The investor, Marc-Antoine Julliard, turned to the platform in 2021 to diversify his holdings because he said the company gave the impression that it was trustworthy.

“The key at trial, aside from the multiple cooperators, was the way in which prosecutors simplified the case and tried it as a garden-variety fraud instead of as a complex crypto scheme,” Renato Mariotti, a former prosecutor in the U.S. Justice Department’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Section, told CNBC.

Mariotti, who’s now a trial partner in Chicago with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said, “The simpler story is usually the winner at a jury trial.”

Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, underscored that point in a press briefing after the verdicts were read on Thursday evening.

“While the cryptocurrency industry might be new and the players like Sam Bankman-Fried might be new, this kind of corruption is as old as time,” Williams said. “This case has always been about lying, cheating, and stealing, and we have no patience for it.”

What's next after Sam Bankman-Fried's conviction in fraud trial: CNBC Crypto World

Prosecutors had a lot going for them.

Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old son of two Stanford legal scholars, had shirked legal advice well after FTX and sister hedge fund Alameda Research spiraled into bankruptcy in late 2022. He remained prolific and unfiltered in dealing with the press, even speaking publicly by video to journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times DealBook Summit, which took place three weeks after his crypto empire collapsed.

“What do your lawyers tell you right now,?” Sorkin asked. “Are they suggesting this is a good idea for you to be speaking?

“No, they are very much not,” Bankman-Fried responded. “The classic advice — don’t say anything, recede into a hole. And that’s not who I am. It’s not who I want to be.”

That interview, along with others, came back to haunt him. Audio and video clips and news excerpts, from before, during and after FTX’s failure, gave the prosecution a mountain of evidence on top of the damning witness testimony it was able to present.

‘Impossible position’

In September of 2022, when the crisis had become evident internally, Bankman-Fried told CNBC that he had $1 billion in free cash to deploy across the industry. The following month, at an event in Washington, D.C., he boasted of FTX’s role in helping to prop up the industry through a cascade of failures.

In presenting those statements to the jury, the prosecution made clear that Bankman-Fried knew he was lying.

“SBF lost this case before it started,” Mariotti said. “He put his lawyers in an impossible position by committing outlandish crimes and refusing to keep his mouth shut even after it was apparent that he was under investigation.”

Sassoon ended by telling the jurors that Bankman-Fried thought he could fool customers, reporters and the public. Now, he was aiming to fool them.

“Don’t fall for it,” she said. “Find him guilty.”

Paul Tuchmann, a former federal prosecutor who is currently a partner with Wiggin and Dana LLP, said a three-hour deliberation for a trial of this length is “not common at all.”

“It really goes to show the strength of the government’s case,” said Tuchmann.

While prosecutors brought up witnesses from Bankman-Fried’s inner circle who were cooperating as part of plea agreements, the defense’s case was mostly built on testimony from the defendant himself. Tuchmann described Bankman-Fried’s performance as “unpersuasive.”

Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents, seated to the left, react to the verdict. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams is seated to the far right.

Artist: Elizabeth Williams

Starring for the prosecution was Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and the former head of Alameda. On the stand, Ellison, who pleaded guilty in December to multiple charges, said that she and Bankman-Fried committed “fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.”

Jurors also got to hear Ellison on tape describing to employees the huge hole in FTX’s balance sheet and the disappearance of customer money. And they saw text messages she sent to Bankman-Fried, including one as the grand scheme was falling apart, in which she wrote “this is the best mood I’ve been in in like a year” because the nightmare was all finally coming to an end.

“No one had a shred of support for SBF, nor should they have,” trial attorney James Koutoulas told CNBC.

Regarding the speedy deliberation, Koutoulas said, “That’s enough time for everybody to be like, I’m glad it’s over, let’s eat our cookies or our sandwiches, recap the facts, and everybody say, ‘OK, well he’s guilty, right?'”

In addition to Ellison, the government called to the stand FTX co-founder Gary Wang, who was Bankman-Fried’s childhood friend from math camp, FTX’s former director of engineering Nishad Singh, and Bankman-Fried’s former roommate and senior FTX coder Adam Yedidia. FTX’s ex-general counsel Can Sun also testified.

“The prosecution featured no fewer than four cooperating witnesses from the senior ranks of the companies, all of whom convincingly described the defendant as the leader of the fraudulent schemes,” said Kevin J. O’Brien, a former assistant U.S. attorney who specializes in white collar criminal defense in New York. “The prosecutors were confident, brisk and well-organized in their presentation, which juries in a complex, lengthy case always appreciate.”

The defense, led by Mark Cohen, tried to create reasonable doubt by pointing out flaws in testimony. But O’Brien said the defense failed to negate the important facts.

When Bankman-Fried took the stand over three separate days, he did himself no favors.

Bankman-Fried rushed through lengthy and convoluted sentences that at times were repetitive and contradictory. That’s when he was responding to his lawyer’s questions. On cross-examination, he clammed up, replying with “Yup,” and some variation of “I don’t recall” over 100 times.

Bankman-Fried’s decision to testify “backfired because of inconsistencies in his testimony and his general lack of appeal,” said O’Brien.

Mariotti credited the Justice Department for working “collaboratively and with urgency” with the Commodities Future Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. That allowed the government to move swiftly while gathering highly compelling evidence.

“Sam Bankman-Fried will be remembered as one of the biggest fraudsters of our lifetimes,” Mariotti said. “He has finally met a situation that he can’t talk his way out of.”

WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all seven counts

Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty on all seven criminal fraud counts: Here's what next

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Velotric sale takes $400 off e-bikes with extra accessory savings, EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra flash bundle $2,072 off, EGO mower, more

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May 1, 2025

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Velotric sale takes 0 off e-bikes with extra accessory savings, EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra flash bundle ,072 off, EGO mower, more

Today’s Green Deals are being led by Velotric’s Mother’s Day Sale, which is offering up to $400 off e-bikes, along with some select 30% accessory discounts and free gear, like the Discover 1 Plus Commuter e-bike for $1,299 that you can also bundle with a bunch of add-on gear at $487 off, among others. There’s also EcoFlow’s latest flash sale through the rest of the day that is taking up to 43% off a DELTA Pro Ultra Solar Generator bundle and a dual-RAPID 5,000mAh Magnetic Power Bank bundle from $76. We also have two solid tool deals for you, with EGO’s 56V 21-inch Cordless Electric Self-Propelled Lawn Mower coming with dual-toggle handles and a 6.0Ah battery at $449, as well as CRAFTSMAN’s 1,900 and 2,100 PSI Electric Pressure Washers starting from $149. Plus, all the other hangover Green Deals are in the links at the bottom of the page, like yesterday’s Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus Mother’s Day savings, Jackery’s latest sale, and more.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Velotric Mother’s Day Sale takes up to $400 off e-bikes with select free gear and accessory discounts from $999

Velotric has launched its Mother’s Day Sale with up to $400 being taken off its e-bike lineup while also offering select 30% off accessory discounts and free gear with certain models. Among the offers, one of the biggest discounts we’re seeing during this sale is on the popular Discover 1 Plus Commuter e-bike for $1,299 shipped. Having recently had its price raised to $1,699 due to tariffs, you’re looking at a $400 markdown here, with the option to bundle the e-bike with a rear rack, front basket, phone mount, and left-side mirror at $1,503 shipped. This is the third-lowest price we have seen this model go for, sitting $200 above the all-time low we last spotted during Black Friday.

Upgraded in 2024 to provide more comfort during commutes, the Velotric Discover 1 Plus e-bike is a popular means to get around with its 500W rear hub motor (peaking at 900W) and 691.2Wh battery delivering up to 65 miles of travel with the five PAS levels activated alongside 20 MPH speeds that can be ramped up to 28 MPH when unlocked. There is a throttle to enjoy cruising around on pure electric power, though at the cost of mileage.

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It doesn’t offer as fancy an array of features like its Discover 2 counterpart, like the Apple Find My integration, but does still provide some solid features for the price. It arrives sporting a Shimano 7-speed derailleur, an integrated 60 lux LED headlight, a taillight with braking functionality, double hydraulic disc brakes, larger 26-inch puncture-resistant tires, an increased IPX7 waterproof rating, fenders above both tires, and a 3.5-inch LCD display. The display even has a USB-A port to charge up your phone as you go on top of a walk assist mode to help you get up extreme inclines.

Velotric Mother’s Day Sale offers with free gear:

  • T1 ST Plus Lightweight e-bike: $1,399 (Reg. $1,649)
    • 28 MPH for up to 70 miles
    • comes with free rear cargo rack
  • Breeze 1 Cruiser e-bike (new model): $1,799 (No price cut)
    • 28 MPH for up to 70 miles
    • Comes with free front basket

Velotric’s other Mother’s Day Sale offers (30% off accessories):

You can browse the full lineup of Velotric’s Mother’s Day Sale on the landing page here.

EcoFLow DELTA Pro Ultra Portable Power Station

Through today, EcoFlow takes up to 43% off a DELTA Pro Ultra solar generator bundle or dual RAPID Qi2 power banks from $76

As part of its ongoing Spring-to-Summer Sale that will continue through May 7, EcoFlow is offering flash savings on two backup power packages for members (sign-up is free) through the rest of the day – one for your home and appliances, and one for your personal devices. The first is the brand’s DELTA Pro Ultra Solar Generator bundle that comes with four 125W panels and a trolley for $5,224.05 shipped, after using the sitewide promo code EFRVSALEAFF at checkout for an additional 5% off. Non-members can use the same code to score it at $190 more, with this package normally running you $7,296 in all. This is a first-time offer on this particular bundle, and what’s more, the sitewide extra savings are rarely valid on flash offers, making it all the sweeter a deal. You’ll be getting $2,072 struck from the price tag at the best price we can find.

EcoFlow’s most expansive backup power option, an especially strong choice for home coverage, the DELTA Pro Ultra starts at a 6.1kWh LiFePO4 capacity and 7,200W output that can be built up all the way to 90kWh capacity and 21.6kW output with additional equipment. For example, were you to have the fully expanded system, you’d be able to keep things running for up to 15 days, though that doesn’t account for any solar charging equipment you’ve connected, which extends that timeframe. Adding the brand’s Smart Home Panel 2 to the equation brings smart home integration into the mix, allowing your power usage to be analyzed, offsetting peak rates while also providing connections to any roof panels you have installed in order to lower energy costs.

Speaking of its solar charging capabilities, this modular station carries an expandable 5.6kW to 16.8kW solar input, as well as the usual AC wall outlet recharging, and the hook-ups for EV piles and generators. Investing in its full system to its absolute limit (three Ultra Pro stations + expansion batteries + max solar input) would provide you the power to run your home for a day after around an hour of the most ideal sunny conditions. Of course, it is also a handy portable option, with an IP54 dust-proof and splash-proof rating, and a design that can withstand severe temperatures from -4 degrees to 113 degrees. Whether you’re using it for year-round needs at home or taking it travelling to campsites, RV trips, and more – it’s quite the sizeable means to keep all your essentials running.

The second of these offers gives you two RAPID 5,000mAh Magnetic Power Banks for $75.99 shipped, after using the sitewide promo code EFRVSALEAFF at checkout for an additional 5% off. Of course, like the above deal, non-members will be paying $9.50 more with the code. These compact devices provide you with Qi2 15W wireless charging speeds or 30W speeds through the built-in USB-C cable or the additional USB-C port. They can recharge to 70% in about 33 minutes and even feature built-in kickstands to prop up as they charge your phone or other devices.

Be sure to check out the lineup of other deals we’re seeing as part of EcoFlow’s Spring-to-Summer Sale, which is taking up to 52% off through may 7 – all with the extra sitewide savings too. You’ll also find the launch deals for the brand’s new WAVE 3 AC/Heater and GLACIER electric coolers that start from $807, with a bunch of bundle options available for them.

EGO Power+ 56V 21-inch electric lawn mower

This EGO 56V 21-inch cordless self-propelled mower comes with a 6.0Ah battery and dual-toggle handles for $449

Amazon is offering the EGO Power+ 56V 21-inch Cordless Electric Self-Propelled Lawn Mower with 6.0Ah battery for $449 shipped. This particular model with the battery normally goes for $550, with March having seen it drop down to $499 and hold strong at that rate until today. Now, you can take advantage of the $101 markdown here to grab one for your lawn care needs at the second-lowest price we have tracked – just $25 above the low from early Christmas sales.

A great replacement for noisy, fume-belching gas-guzzlers, this 56V mower from EGO provides 50 minutes of run time with the included 6.0Ah ARC battery, which you can quickly change out with other batteries you may have for extended performance. The 21-inch deck houses a brushless motor for better efficiency, with a 7-position cutting height range from 1.25 to 4 inches, as well as 3-in-1 functionality for rear bagging, side discharging, and mulching. It starts up at the press of a button, so no more wrestling with pull strings – plus, its self-propelled system is easier to engage thanks to the dual-toggle handle set.

And if you want to stock up on batteries, you’ll find EGO’s 2.5Ah and 5.0Ah ARC models starting from $110 right now.

CRAFTSMAN 2,100 PSI Electric Pressure Washer

Grab the budget-friendly CRAFTSMAN 1,900 PSI or 2,100 PSI electric pressure washers for outdoor cleaning from $149

Amazon is giving folks a solid budget-friendly option for outdoor cleaning needs by offering the CRAFTSMAN 2,100 PSI Electric Pressure Washer for $189 shipped. A tried-and-true model that may be older but still gets the job done, we’ve been seeing this model keep at $219 at Amazon while going for a higher $239 MSRP elsewhere, not receiving any discounts here since the summer of last year. Today, we’re getting some respite from the monotony with a $30 markdown that drops costs to the lowest price we’ve seen in the last two years, sitting just $10 above its all-time lowest rate.

With spring in bloom, there will be plenty of gunk from pollen buildup and more that needs clearing away, and this CRAFTSMAN pressure washer is a popular means to do just that. It delivers a maximum 2,100 PSI of cleaning power for your outdoor spaces and furniture, with a 1.2 GPM flow rate. It sports an integrated soap tank that adds an additional level of cleaning when needed, along with onboard storage for the included nozzles, 25-foot kink-resistant hose, 35-foot power cord, and wand.

If you don’t need such a high PSI, you can save a little more by going with the CRAFTSMAN 1,900 PSI Electric Pressure Washer for $149 shipped. This slightly smaller model offers most of the same features and gear, just with a lesser 1,900 PSI power.

Best Spring EV deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.

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Waymo says its robotaxis are up to 25x safer for pedestrians and cyclists

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May 1, 2025

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Waymo says its robotaxis are up to 25x safer for pedestrians and cyclists

Waymo has released new research saying that its driverless robotaxis reduce pedestrian- and cyclist-involved collisions by 82%-92%, and crashes that involve an injury by 96%, when compared to the average driver.

Waymo has been operating its autonomous, driverless Level 4 robotaxis for several years now, and is continuing to (slowly) roll them out to more metro areas in the US. They’ve been operating in Phoenix since 2019 in some capacity, and entered San Francisco in 2022, Los Angeles in 2023, and Austin, Texas in 2024, plus they’ve just started testing in Atlanta, Georgia.

In that time, the company has racked up 56.7 million miles of operation, allowing it to have a big enough sample to start understanding how its driving capabilities compare to the overall vehicle fleet.

Today it released a research paper that it has published, suggesting that its vehicles are indeed quite a lot safer, especially when it comes to “vulnerable road users” like pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

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Waymo released a table showing the total number of incidents it had in each location, inclusive of not just crashes with vulnerable road users, but vehicle-to-vehicle crashes as well.

Location Any injury Airbag deployed Serious injury+
Phoenix 24 8 0
San Francisco 16 7 2
Los Angeles 8 2 0
Austin 0 1 0
All Locations 48 18 2

But in its press release it highlighted vulnerable road users specifically, showing that Waymo’s robotaxis had a 92% reduction in crashes involving an injury with pedestrians and an 82% reduction with both cyclists and motorcyclists. This increases to a 96% reduction in injuries in intersections, which are one of the most dangerous parts of the road, and 85% reduction in crashes with “suspected serious injuries” or worse.

Due to the high number of miles studied, results for some specific environments and types of crashes are statistically significant, but some of Waymo’s other results are not – because some of these types of crashes are extremely rare. So more research will come as more miles get racked up.

Along with its blog post, Waymo released a short video with some examples of avoided crashes with vulnerable road users:

Waymo’s results show a particularly stark difference given that pedestrian injuries are at a 40-year high in America. Until around 2012, the trendline for pedestrian injury and death was trending downwards, showing that roads and cars were getting safer for other road users.

But in the last 13 years, pedestrian deaths have shot up rapidly, owing both to distracted driving (cellphones, screens in cars) and much larger vehicles. The latter point is finally seeing some attention by the US government – or at least, it was, before this January rolled around (we’ll see if republicans continue on their quest to make literally everything worse).

Waymo’s research has been accepted for publication in the scientific journal Traffic Injury Prevention.

Electrek’s Take

We took a ride in a Waymo when the service first came to LA and you can read my long writeup of that here, including lots of video showing how the car performed in some pretty difficult road situations. I was quite impressed, but it still isn’t perfect.

But Waymo has put quite a premium on safety, which it can do because it’s funded by Google’s deep pockets. It has spent quite a bit of money on developing and attaching its sensor suite to its robotaxis, and the statistics seem to suggest that that expenditure has paid off.

Though it sort of already has paid off, as Waymo’s main driverless competitor, Cruise, ended operations in 2023 after a high-profile crash. Cruise’s vehicle was not at fault for the crash (a human driver caused it, hitting a pedestrian into the Cruise vehicle), but Cruise subsequently was found to have misled investigators, which was a big no-no.

Waymo’s sensor-heavy is different than the approach taken by another company that talks a lot about self-driving, Tesla. Tesla is using a camera-only system, whereas Waymo has several other sensors, like radar and LiDAR (you may have heard about the difference between these two in a recent controversial Mark Rober video, which everyone seems to have missed the point of).

There are some strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and time will tell which one works out the best. Tesla’s solution is more scalable and the company has far more road miles covered than Waymo does, but the quality of Tesla’s data is lower due to its smaller (and cheaper) sensor suite.

Tesla occasionally releases a safety report, but the data included is quite minimal and has not been published in any scientific journals for peer review.

But most observers (other than Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose observational capacities are questionable these days; and Andrej Karpathy, a well-respected top AI researcher and former Tesla AI lead) think that camera-only is not going to be able to get us to true self-driving vehicles.

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Hyundai has an advanced new electric SUV for China: Meet ELEXIO

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3 hours ago

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May 1, 2025

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Hyundai has an advanced new electric SUV for China: Meet ELEXIO

Hyundai-electric-SUV-ELEXIO

It’s not the IONIQ 4, but Hyundai promises it will be a game changer. After unveiling its new electric SUV, ELEXIO, Hyundai said it’s about to “write a new chapter” in the world’s largest EV market.

Hyundai unveils new ELEXIO electric SUV

After Beijing-Hyundai released the first “spy” photos in March, speculation arose that the new electric SUV could be the IONIQ 4.

At first, it almost looked like a smaller, sportier IONIQ 9, but as more images emerged, it became clear that this model is specifically designed for the Chinese market.

The electric SUV features a full-length light bar across the front with a closed-off grille. It’s also much less boxy than the IONIQ 9 with an aerodynamic profile.

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On April 21, Beijing Hyundai revealed its “In China, for China, to the World” strategy in Shanghai, where the ELEXIO made its global debut during a media-exclusive event. Hyundai said the electric SUV’s debut “opened a new starting point for the transformation from traditional fuel vehicle giant to electrification.”

ELEXIO is Hyundai’s “first pure electric platform SUV” in China. Unlike its IONIQ models, the new electric SUV features local technology to attract buyers in China.

During the event, Hyundai called China a “must-fight place” for global automakers and “the core of Hyundai Motor’s global strategy.”

The company plans to build a full lineup of pure electric, hybrid, and extended-range vehicles with advanced new sedans, SUVs, and MPVs.

Its first, ELEXIO, breaks into the high-end segment with “new quality.” Beijing Hyundai said it will continue to anchor its strategic position in the Chinese market.

Hyundai’s new ELEXIO electric SUV will make its public debut on May 7 with an official launch scheduled for later this year.

Like most major automakers, Hyundai aims to keep pace with EV and tech leaders emerging from China, such as BYD. Last year, it opened its first overseas R&D center in China as it looks to spark a comeback. As part of its 8 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) investment, Beijing Hyundai plans to boost sales in China while doubling exports.

Will the new ELEXIO SUV help Hyundai compete with BYD and others in China? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: TheKoreanCarBlog, Beijing Hyundai

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