Court Approves Use of FTX Founder's Political Donations as Evidence in Fraud Trial
Summary:
U.S. District Judge, Lewis Kaplan, has approved the introduction of evidence about FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's political donations at his upcoming fraud trial, as they are relevant to the case. The trial, which is scheduled to start on October 3rd, originally brought charges against Bankman-Fried for conspiring against U.S. campaign finance laws and other fraud-related offenses. Evidence allowed includes details of FTX Token (FTT) and Bankman-Fried's supposed misconduct in directing Alameda Research to manipulate the token's price. Also, defence lawyers are permitted to question government witnesses about their recreational drug usage, with certain preconditions.
The U.S. federal courts have given the green light for Department of Justice prosecutors to bring forward facts about Sam Bankman-Fried's political contributions related to his fraud allegations. The decision has been taken by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan as part of a number of rulings disclosed in a pretrial order on September 26th. This concerned permissible evidence for the upcoming FTX founder's fraud case, scheduled for October 3rd. Bankman-Fried initially faced charges of conspiracy against US campaign finance laws and seven other accusations of fraud and conspiracy, though these were later retracted in an extradition agreement with the Bahamas. "Direct evidence of wire fraud is suggested by his act of utilizing FTX customer funds for political contributions as it demonstrates intent and motive behind the alleged fraud," said the order. Judge Kaplan also gave permission for prosecutors to introduce evidence delineating Bankman-Fried’s alleged involvement in the inception of the FTX Token (FTT) and his supposed direction for Alameda Research and then-CEO Caroline Ellison to manipulate the token’s price. Kaplan stated that the purported crypto-token manipulation, leading to the alleged misrepresentation of Alameda's balance sheet, was part of the claimed conspiracy. "The evidence of his alleged instruction to Ms. Ellison to tweak the FTT price is a testament to their shared trust relationship. This evidence is crucial and surpasses any risk of unfair bias. Therefore, it should be taken into consideration,"' said Kaplan. In the interim, Kaplan allowed Bankman-Fried’s defense team to grill government witnesses, which includes Ellison, former FTX engineer Nishad Singh, and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, on their recreational drug usage after giving the court prior notification. The judge denied the DOJ’s requests to disallow the defense's cross-questioning of witnesses on certain sensitive topics. He also ruled that any particulars related to Bankman-Fried’s pre-trial detention, family history, wealth, or age would not be brought up in front of the jury.
Published At
9/27/2023 1:49:21 AM
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