U.S Judge Bars Seven Witnesses in FTX Ex-CEO's Criminal Trial
Summary:
A U.S. federal judge has agreed with the Department of Justice's request to exclude the testimonies of seven defense witnesses in the criminal trial of former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. Despite blocking certain witnesses, the judge allowed the possibility for the defense team to call some individuals in response to prosecution's witnesses. Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty, will face his first trial on October 3 over alleged misuse of FTX and Alameda Research customer funds.
A United States federal judge has agreed with the Department of Justice's requests to exclude the testimonies of seven defense witnesses in the criminal trial of former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. The Judge for the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, Lewis Kaplan, gave his approval on September 21 to ban certain individuals from testifying in the court case. Judge Kaplan offered various legal justifications for endorsing the DOJ's requests against the specific witnesses, stating that their proposed evidence was confusing, irrelevant, or could potentially mislead the jury.
The individuals stopped from testifying include Thomas Bishop, Brian Kim, Bradley Smith, Lawrence Akka, Joseph Pimbley, Peter Vinella, and Andrew Di Wu, with many being legal professionals. According to court documents from August 28, those called to testify by the defense team could have charged over $1200 per hour to provide evidence.
Despite this, Judge Kaplan left the opportunity for the defense to call some individuals in reply to the testimonies of the prosecution's witnesses. A request from Bankman-Fried's lawyers to prevent accountancy professor Peter Easton from the University of Notre Dame from giving testimony about FTX's client accounts was declined.
Sam Bankman-Fried is set to face his first criminal court appearance on October 3 where he will respond to seven charges related to the apparent misuse of FTX and Alameda Research customer funds. Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty to all allegations, will also face another five charges in March 2024.
Since his bail was revoked in August by a federal judge, Bankman-Fried has been primarily held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. His lawyers' appeal for early release, largely argued on First Amendment grounds, was rejected by a three-judge panel on September 21.
Published At
9/21/2023 8:30:00 PM
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