Updates Emerge from Ongoing Court Case Against Ex-FTX CEO Bankman-Fried
Summary:
The ongoing trial against Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, has seen both the prosecutors and defense call witnesses and present their arguments. The proceedings have detailed the alleged mingling of funds between FTX and Alameda Research, illustrating the conflict between FTX's former entities. Prosecutors have presented forensic financial analyses and scrutinized testimony from key figures, such as former general counsel Can Sun and financial consultant Joseph Pimbley. Delays prompted by cycles of repeated questioning resulted in criticism from District Judge Lewis Kaplan. The trial is scheduled to continue, with the defense yet to confirm whether they will present their case.
The court case against Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, is ongoing in New York, with Cointelegraph reporters providing real-time updates. On October 26th, the prosecutors concluded their case with the last government witness, FBI Agent Mark Troiano, who examined over 300 Signal groups in connection with Bankman-Fried. Most of these groups had the auto-delete feature activated, erasing messages after a set duration.
After a short recess, the defense called Krystal Rolle, a lawyer from the Bahamas who had previously represented both Bankman-Fried and FTX in November 2022. Rolle provided little new information but did disclose that FTX transferred all its digital assets in custody to the Bahamian regulator on the same day a court order was delivered.
The defense's second witness, Joseph Pimbley, a financial consultant with a Ph.D. in physics, presented his analysis of FTX’s code and database. Pimbley found that back in November last year, FTX held over $5.8 billion in assets from accounts enabled for spot margin, lending, or futures trading. This sum does not include the balances of FTX entities or Alameda Research.
That very day, Can Sun, FTX’s former general counsel, testified that he was unaware of the exchange’s funds commingling with those of Alameda Research. This information was only presented to him by other employees in August 2022. When Sun became aware of the issue, he supposedly created a plan to rectify the problem, but it remained unimplemented due to opposition from other FTX departments.
On October 18th, District Judge Lewis Kaplan voiced his frustration with the conduct of the defense and prosecution during the trial. Attorneys for both sides were criticized for their endless questioning, sidebars, and objections, all of which hindered the proceedings.
On October 18th, Peter Easton, an accounting professor, presented detailed forensic financial analysis outlining the alleged mingling of funds between FTX and Alameda Research from 2021.
Evidence was presented on October 13th showing that BlockFi’s leadership was advised by its team about their excessive exposure to FTX Token (FTT) in August 2021. This was allegedly what led BlockFi to file for bankruptcy following the collapse of FTX.
The trial is scheduled to continue on October 26th, with the prosecution expected to conclude its case. The defense has yet to confirm whether they will present their case.
Published At
10/26/2023 7:59:13 PM
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