US Justice Department Concludes its Case Against ex-FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried
Summary:
After more than three weeks of testimonials and evidence presentation, the US Justice Department has concluded its case against Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried, former FTX CEO. Witnesses included an FBI agent and former FTX employees detailing SBF's involvement in numerous Signal groups. Bahamian lawyer Krystal Rolle and Joseph Pimbley of PF2 Securities also testified in favor of SBF, against which dismissal was denied by Judge Kaplan. While SBF is set to testify, he also faces five more criminal charges in a separate trial anticipated in March 2024.
The legal representatives of the United States Justice Department have wrapped up their case against Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried after over roughly 21 days of professional witnesses and statement submissions from prior employees of FTX and Alameda. From courtroom updates on October 26, it appears the government concluded its witness list with FBI Agent Mark Troiano, who spend most of his time on the stand detailing SBF's participation in over 300 distinct groups on the messaging platform, Signal. After his deposition, an attempt to dismiss the case by Bankman-Fried's defense was immediately rebuffed by presiding Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, the lawyers tackling SBF’s defense, summoned two individuals to testify before Bankman-Fried. Bahamian lawyer Krystal Rolle, who has prior experience operating as Bankman-Fried's legal representative, shared her account of being present during a meeting that took place between SBF and the Bahamas Securities Commission in November 2022, where she saw him passing control of FTX's assets over to the authorities.
Further testimony came from Joseph Pimbley of litigation advisory company PF2 Securities. His contribution was largely about his $50,000 payment for recovering data connected to Alameda Research’s credit facility with FTX, along with account data for an approximated 9 to 11 million FTX platform users, from Amazon Web Services. The attorneys representing the Justice Department had not yet had the floor to interrogate him at the moment this report was published.
Early reports out of the courtroom indicate that Judge Kaplan frequently met Everdell's or Cohen's queries toward witnesses with an argumentative response, frequently voicing that the posed questions were not assisting progress or ordering the proceedings to maintain focus. As this article is going to print, Bankman-Fried had yet to declare his testimony, with his legal team speculating that he will spend around four hours in the witness box.
In a conference call on October 25, defense counselors announced their intent to call Bankman-Fried to testify in defense of the charges levelled against the ex-chief executive of FTX. In the lead-up to this decision, the prosecution called several former Alameda and FTX executives, such as Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, to testify regarding SBF’s alleged illicit use of Alameda and FTX’s resources.
Bankman-Fried's court proceedings are projected to wrap up within the coming days, taking into consideration closing statements and any further motions tabled by either the defense or the prosecution. Beyond this trial, ex-FTX CEO Bankman-Fried has another five criminal charges lined up against him, slated to be under examination in a separate trial projected to begin in March 2024. Bankman-Fried has, to date, pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Published At
10/26/2023 4:06:00 PM
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