sam bankman-fried to testify in ftx fraud trial, attorney says
published wed, oct 25 202310:42 am edtupdated wed, oct 25 202312:49 pm edt
key points
- indicted ftx founder sam bankman-fried will take the stand in his own defense, his lawyer said.
- the move is widely considered to be a risky one since it opens him up to cross-examination by prosecutors.
- bankman-fried’s defense had previously said access to his adhd medication needed to be resolved for the former billionaire to fully participate in his defense.
ftx founder sam bankman-fried will take the stand to testify in his own defense, his attorney said in a conference call wednesday. the decision by his legal team sets him up for a cross-examination by federal prosecutors, who will be able to press him on the collapse of his crypto exchange ftx.
bankman-fried’s decision to testify came after federal prosecutors and his defense team were able to secure the alleged fraudster an adequate supply of his adhd medication. his defense had previously argued before the court that inadequate access to the medication impugned his ability to participate in his defense.
the ftx co-founder’s legal team will begin its defense immediately after the government finishes its case, which is expected to take place thursday morning. prosecutors have one remaining witness to call, an fbi agent who will serve as a summary witness.
the defense will also call three other witnesses besides bankman-fried to the stand, defense attorney mark cohen said on the call.
his lawyers had opposed the government’s request to begin their defense immediately after the government rested its case in a filing tuesday night.
it is widely considered to be a risky maneuver. while his defense team will be able to question him and the former billionaire would be able to provide his own narrative on the collapse, it also opens up bankman-fried to a cross-examination by federal prosecutors. so far, the prosecution has called up several of bankman-fried’s top executives to testify, including nishad singh and caroline ellison, his one-time romantic partner and former ceo of alameda research.
bankman-fried stands accused of fraud and money laundering in his role in the collapse of the multibillion-dollar crypto exchange ftx. since the company filed for bankruptcy, bankman-fried has been accused of systematically pilfering billions in customer assets from the exchange’s reserves to fund political contributions, real estate acquisitions and high-profile sponsorship deals.
the government has also presented extensive evidence to support its claims, including signal chats and internal documents, which prosecutors allege show how bankman-fried orchestrated the spending of customer funds.
breaking: ftx founder sam bankman-fried to testify in criminal trial
october 25, 2023 at 2:50 pm
mark cohen, lead attorney for the defense in united states v sam bankman-fried, said his client will take the stand and testify at a new york federal courthouse during the fraud trial for ftx’s collapse.
ftx founder sam bankman-fried is one of four witnesses set to testify under oath sometime between late october and mid-november of 2023. this will come after federal prosecutors call one more witness, fbi special agent mark troyano according to innercitypress.
the agent will reportedly give expert analysis on chat log and auto-delete strategies employed by bankman-fried while he held the reigns at his crypto exchange.
cohen’s remarks to senior district judge lewis a. kaplan, who presides over the case, suggest that bankman-fried could testify on oct. 26 through to oct. 27. accounts given by the former ftx ceo would determine cross-examination from the prosecutor, assistant united states attorney nicolas roos noted.
the defense will also call financial consultant joseph pimbley, a lawyer from the bahamas, and one other individual as bankman-fried’s witnesses. notably, peter easton who provided prosecutors with forensic analysis of ftx’s operations, testified that the founder oversaw at least $9.3 billion in misappropriated customer funds.
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