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Sam Bankman-Fried acquired one other shot at cross-examination on Monday, taking the stand on the similar federal courthouse in New York the place he testified final week in an uncommon evidentiary listening to with out the presence of jurors—to disastrous effect.
The second time round, Bankman-Fried adopted a special model, nevertheless it didn’t go any higher for the disgraced FTX crypto mogul as he suffered by means of a barrage of questions from Division of Justice prosecutor Danielle Sassoon in entrance of a full jury field.
Whereas he initially stumbled by means of with a jumbled mess of words interspersed with “ums” and “yups,” Bankman-Fried this time ceaselessly advised Sassoon he didn’t recall what she was referring to—even when it was statements he immediately wrote or made to coworkers and reporters. The consequence was a tortured few hours with Sassoon asking him about his recollections, Bankman-Fried demurring, and Sassoon introducing reveals that steered he knew—or at one level knew—precisely what she was speaking about.
‘I don’t recall’
Earlier than final week, the query of whether or not Bankman-Fried would even take the stand remained open. Many defendants decline to testify for worry of self-incrimination, with their attorneys as a substitute calling different witnesses to make the case for innocence.
However after a bruising array of witnesses from prosecutors that included a number of members of Bankman-Fried’s inside circle—all of whom testified that that they had dedicated fraud by stealing buyer funds at his path—Bankman-Fried made the choice to plead his case to the jury.
Bankman-Fried’s resolution to take the stand additionally got here as U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan repeatedly advised his attorneys they might not put forth their most popular protection, which was that Bankman-Fried had acted below the counsel of his attorneys at FTX. As a substitute, Bankman-Fried’s direct testimony shifted blame to different FTX executives, together with the prosecution’s three star witnesses: Alameda Analysis CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX CTO Gary Wang, and FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh, all former mates of Bankman-Fried.
In Monday’s cross-examination earlier than the jury, Sassoon introduced up proof that Bankman-Fried was in truth conscious of all the issues and unlawful conduct at FTX, together with his buying and selling agency Alameda’s massive debt to FTX and its particular privileges that allowed it to steal buyer deposits from FTX.
To show Bankman-Fried’s consciousness of an exercise, she ceaselessly pointed to statements he had made to reporters throughout his notorious media tour in December 2022, proper after the collapse of FTX. These included interviews carried out with shops together with Bloomberg and The Monetary Instances. Whilst Bankman-Fried asserted that he didn’t keep in mind the specifics of the interviews, they offered Sassoon with a wealth of proof to indicate his actual feedback—lots of them damning.
‘Extra leeway’
Sitting within the witness field, Bankman-Fried appeared agitated, his eyes darting forwards and backwards as he responded with contrite solutions. At one level, Sassoon performed an audio recording from an interview and requested if it was his voice.
“It sounds prefer it,” Bankman-Fried stated.
Sassoon typically responded along with her personal sarcastic quips. After introducing written proof about FTX buying and selling insurance policies, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys stated that they had no objections if the proof was not getting used for the reality of the matter asserted within the materials.
“We don’t suppose the representations had been correct, so, no, it’s not being supplied for its reality,” Sassoon stated.
After final week’s fiery cross-examination with out the jury current, Monday’s testimony appeared extra like a slow-moving chess match the place neither facet was prepared to concede a single level. As a substitute, Bankman-Fried’s favourite response was “I don’t recall.”
For the important thing query as as to if Alameda had misappropriated $8 billion of FTX buyer property, Bankman-Fried stated he couldn’t reply due to the dearth of specifics across the platform’s margin-lending program.
Recalling moments from his media tour, Sassoon requested about an interview Bankman-Fried carried out with Bloomberg reporter Zeke Fake at the infamous Bahamas penthouse after FTX collapsed. Within the article, Bankman-Fried stated that Alameda didn’t comply with the identical margin guidelines as different merchants and had “extra leeway.” On the stand, Bankman-Fried refused to confess to the contents of the interviews.
Sassoon’s cross-examination doubtless will proceed for no less than two hours on Tuesday morning. After a re-direct from the protection, a rebuttal from the prosecution, and shutting arguments from either side, the case might wrap up by the tip of this week.
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