Donald Trump Jr., Samuel Bankman-Fried and the request for ‘sexy’ fake courtroom sketches

Trump Jr. had an instance of what he ought to appear like — and it got here from one other Manhattan courtroom. Rosenberg mentioned he pulled out his cellphone and confirmed her the fake courtroom sketch of Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX co-founder who was faces many years in jail after he was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and cash laundering on Thursday.

“He mentioned, ‘Did you see the one they product of Sam Bankman-Fried? It made him appear like a celebrity,’ ” she recounted to Insider. Rosenberg informed Reuters she shortly shot down the AI-generated sketch of Bankman-Fried — depicting him as having spiky hair and a agency jaw as an alternative of his standard matted self — as being faux.

“It doesn’t look something like him, doesn’t look something like Sam Bankman-Fried,” she mentioned, “ … and there’s nobody within the courtroom drawing that.”

Rosenberg, a veteran courtroom artist who has drawn sketches of everybody from Tom Brady to Harvey Weinstein, depicted Bankman-Fried all through his trial as having huge ears, a protruding brow and bulging eyes.

Rosenberg didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark early Friday. Trump Jr. confirmed on X that he requested the artist to make him look good in his courtroom sketch.

“True story,” he wrote, sharing a side-by-side comparability of the faux courtroom sketch and an actual picture of Bankman-Fried. “Looks as if an affordable ask.”

Trump Jr.’s sketch request comes as attorneys for New York Legal professional Common Letitia James (D) have accused the previous president, his sons and their eponymous firm of inflating the monetary statements to safe higher phrases. The trial is analyzing the alleged long-standing follow by the Trump Group and its executives that was carried out to barter higher rates of interest from lenders and to chop down on insurance coverage coverage prices.

Trump sons testify during New York civil fraud trial against their family business

As he was questioned by Colleen Faherty, a member of James’s trial group, Trump Jr. testified that he was not concerned within the accounting that went into the monetary statements, describing that because the work of the corporate’s accountants.

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The previous president’s namesake talked about to Rosenberg how he wished a flattering sketch like Bankman-Fried’s hours earlier than the FTX co-founder was convicted. The jury’s determination was reached after lower than 5 hours of deliberation, with Bankman-Fried being discovered responsible on two counts of wire fraud, 4 counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one rely of conspiracy to commit cash laundering. The lawyer for Bankman-Fried, who’s accused of being one of many largest monetary fraudsters in historical past after victims suffered almost $10 billion in losses, recommended that his shopper will attraction the conviction. Bankman-Fried’s sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2024.

Bankman-Fried convicted on all charges after weeks-long criminal trial

Rosenberg is among the many most well-known courtroom sketch artists in America. Within the many years after she acquired her begin drawing prostitutes in New York’s night time court docket, Rosenberg has captured the likes of John Gotti, Woody Allen and Martha Stewart whereas they have been on trial. Rosenberg confronted some criticism a number of years in the past for her depiction of “ugly Tom Brady” throughout a Deflategate listening to in 2015. Her rendering of the New England Patriots quarterback made Brady, identified for his good-looking options, look as if he had gone by way of a grotesque transformation. The sketch triggered a firestorm of internet memes and a deluge of nasty emails from Patriots followers.

Rosenberg can also be no stranger to sketching a member of the Trump household in court docket. When the previous president was arraigned in April on 34 counts stemming from 2016 hush cash funds, Rosenberg drew sketches displaying Trump’s anger after the primary felony prices have been handed right down to any former U.S. president. The sketch went viral and graced the duvet of the New Yorker.

Within the days earlier than Bankman-Fried’s conviction, a faux courtroom sketch of him unfold on-line that depicted him to be an Adonis, or no less than an underwear mannequin. The web had enjoyable over the AI-generated rendering.

“Why does courtroom sketch SBF appear like he spends his time enjoying quarterback & breaking hearts when he’s not stealing buyer funds?” one critic requested on X this week.

However the faux sketch of Bankman-Fried rankled Rosenberg, who maintained to the Independent that the AI-generated picture “doesn’t look something like him.” Rosenberg acknowledged to the British outlet that the courtroom sketch artists mentioned the AI picture appeared extra like Matthew Perry, the “Associates” star who not too long ago died, than Bankman-Fried.

“It’s not Bankman-Fried, it’s not his nostril, it’s not his face, it’s not something,” she mentioned. “You realize that AI doesn’t work in courtroom artwork.” She added, “It’s so foolish, this entire world of Twitter. So we’re speaking about nothing.”

Rosenberg’s courtroom depictions of Bankman-Fried modified through the course of the month-long trial, with some evaluating his droopy and unsettling options to that of “The Scream,” the 1893 composition by Edvard Munch that symbolizes the anxiousness of the human situation.

Like several of her different sketches, together with Trump Jr., Rosenberg informed the Unbiased that her course of for drawing the actual sketch of Bankman-Fried was easy, and that it wasn’t her job to research whether or not defendants have been tragic figures.

“I simply have a look at him and draw what I see,” she mentioned.

Shayna Jacobs, Mark Berman, Eli Tan and Tory Newmyer contributed to this report.