Sam Bankman-Fried testimony wraps, setting stage for trial’s closing arguments
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried underwent a final barrage of questions on Tuesday from a prosecutor aimed at showing that he’s not being honest about how much he knew about the disappearance of $8 billion from his customers’ accounts, setting the stage for final arguments in his fraud trial on Wednesday.
The four days of testimony by the 31-year-old cryptocurrency entrepreneur will be summarized by his lawyer and prosecutors before a jury begins deciding his fate as early as Thursday.
Bankman-Fried insisted in his testimony in Manhattan federal court that he didn’t defraud anyone before his cryptocurrency empire collapsed last November, leading to his arrest a month later and his extradition to New York to face fraud charges that could result in decades in prison if he is convicted.
Initially freed on a $250 million personal recognizance bond, he was permitted to reside with his parents in Palo Alto, California, until August, when Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that he had tried to influence prospective trial witnesses and needed to remain incarcerated.
Criminal charges and the trial reflected the steep fall Bankman-Fried has gone through since a year ago, when it seemed he was presiding over flourishing cryptocurrency companies that seemed to be among the stars of an emerging industry.
Celebrities including comedian Larry David and quarterback Tom Brady were promoting his products and Bankman-Fried was living with other top executives in a $30 million apartment in the Bahamas, while they made tens of millions of dollars in political contributions and charity donations and put millions of dollars more in speculative investments.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has said Bankman-Fried was overseeing one of the biggest frauds in
Read more on globalnews.ca
