SBF attorneys prepare for the most essential witness in the second week of the fraud trial against Sam Bankman Fried. Presently, the entire focus seems to be on the initial criminal trial against Bankman-Fried. This will determine the way the entire scenario will pan out in the future.
As per the government’s version, FTX investors were given to understand that their funds remained safeguarded, wherein the fact was that the funds were being shifted to accommodate Bankman-Fried’s opulent living. On the part of the defense, their side of the story is that it was never the intention of Bankman-Fried to siphon off investors’ funds.
In most cases, the initial week witnesses the selection of the jury members, the opening statements from both parties, and the concerned witnesses coming out with their statements. In this Bankman-Fried case, the jury selection consisted of 12 persons from New York: a physician’s assistant, a librarian, and a nurse.
Where this trial is concerned, the government claims that SBF knowingly fooled customers and used their funds for his own personal use. From the defendant’s side, this is far from the truth, and they accept that SBF and nothing else took certain wrong decisions.
The government started off with the allegation that the entire FTX fiasco was an eyewash for SBF to gain the lifestyle he desired. They added that the funds were utilized to donate to politicians, which brought SBF further security. The defense team stood by their theory that the government was leveling charges against him, which they cannot prove.
From the government’s side, the initial witness was an FTX customer who incurred a loss of $134,000. The government then brought Marc-Antoine Julliard, a commodities trader, to play the role of a person who had placed his faith in FTX even when it was moving toward bankruptcy. He shared information about the nature of connecting with the platform.
In the case of the next witness, Adam Yedidia, who had applied for immunity, was informed that he was employed by Almeda and functioned as an engineer at FTX. He, however, quit after becoming aware of the fact that investors’ funds were being misused.
The Co-Founder of FTX, Gary Wang, pleaded guilty to having misused investor’s funds and shared the fact that he was involved in SBF’s hedge fund, Almeda Research withdrawing funds from FTX. He added that SBF had instructed him to write code showing Almeda’s FTX account coming to naught. Based on Wang’s testimony, the crypto hedge fund Alameda was granted “special privileges” at FTX, which let it spend $8 billion of FTX clients’ money.
In the upcoming week, the ex-CEO of Almeda Research, Caroline Elison, will face the jury. She has already pleaded guilty to a number of charges and will also be up against the defendants.