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Sam Bankman Freed’s trial is in its fourth week…and he’s on the stand today 2:00 p.m. Stay tuned for additional coverage.
This is the second time Bankman Fried has spoken publicly in court, saying “yes.” on the first day When asked by Judge Lewis Kaplan if he understood that he had the right to testify if he wanted to, he replied:
This was the first day the defense made its case after weeks of prosecutors amassing a mountain of evidence.
Prosecutors adjourned the case around 10 a.m. Thursday. Mark Cohen, Bankman Freed’s lead attorney, called the government’s charges “not shown to be of any significance” and “inadequate,” and called for a plea of not guilty on all seven counts against his client. did. Prosecutors opposed the motion, but Judge Kaplan rejected it.
The trial was adjourned from October 20th until today. But Wednesday morning, a virtual hearing was held between Judge Lewis Kaplan, prosecutors and the defense to frame the rest of the case.
During the telephone conversation, Cohen said the defense had three potential witnesses, adding, “My client is scheduled to testify.” Before the defense makes its case, prosecutors will use another witness, FBI agent Mark Troiano, to “summarize certain documents” focused on FTX and Alameda, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Thane Lane. He said that he plans to bring out the following.
The defense also filed a letter Wednesday asking Judge Kaplan for permission to question Bankman Fried’s “good faith” regarding certain elements of FTX and Alameda. Some of the events were about introducing data retention policies such as Slack and Signal’s automatic deletion policy, executive loans from FTX and Alameda, drafting terms and services, and internal and external counsel on other areas. .
“Bankman Freed’s understanding that the automatic deletion policies were enacted under the guidance of counsel would be directly relevant to rebutting the inference that these policies were enacted for an improper purpose.” written in the defense statement.
Cohen said in a virtual call that Bankman Fried’s testimony included former colleagues who have pleaded guilty, FTX co-founder and CTO Gary Wang, Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, and FTX’s head of engineering. He said he expected the testimony to be the same length as Nishad Singh and others. He also said cross-examination could take place on Friday and would take “the better part of Thursday, probably all of Thursday.”
Although the trial was paused, details were still being worked out and we were publishing more content. See below for details.
SBF trial
- Former SDNY federal prosecutor sees this as ‘Long live Mary’ as SBF plans to testify (TC+)
- Former SDNY prosecutors Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh say they probably won’t get any prison time.
- Third Point Managing Director Doubles Down on SBF Investor Fraud in Trial Testimony
this week’s web3
If you’re tired of SBF trials, check out some articles about what else is going on in the wild world of Web3.
- Bitcoin’s value is currently over $34,500, but can it hold? (TC+)
- Walmart and Outlier Ventures’ Web3 Accelerator launches with five startups
- Bitwise General Counsel (TC+) says there are “high expectations” for Bitcoin Spot ETF approval in 2024
latest pod
In this week’s episode, Jacqueline We interviewed Josh Naftalis, a partner at law firm Paras Partners.
He is an attorney with many years of experience representing companies, boards of directors, and management teams in matters including white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement matters, internal investigations, and crisis management.
Prior to joining Pallas Partners, Josh was a federal prosecutor and spent more than 10 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. While at SDNY, he led numerous government white-collar prosecutions and trials and was a senior member of SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Josh has handled a wide range of situations, from cryptocurrencies to insider trading, market manipulation, and corporate and accounting fraud. His work also included coordination with other agencies such as the SEC, CFTC, and FBI.
While at SDNY, Josh secured convictions in every federal criminal trial he led as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. That’s why we thought he was the perfect person to jump into the high-profile trial of Sam Bankman Freed, who is facing seven charges related to money laundering and fraud. The SBF trial is also being held at SDNY, where Josh worked.
We discussed all the nitty-gritty details of the SBF trial. The prosecution’s strategy, the defense’s strategy, how this case compares to previous cases Josh has led, and what are the chances that the jury will reach a guilty verdict.
We also discussed:
- How many years will SBF take?
- importance of jury
- Best eyewitness testimony ever
- Sentencing of other FTX executives
- Why does he think SBF will testify?
apply Chain reaction upon apple podcast, spotify Or catch up on the latest episodes using your favorite pod platform. If you like what you hear, please leave a review.
follow the money
- Avalanche-focused game studio Neon Machine closes $20 million Series A round
- Singapore-based crypto payments startup Triple A raises $10 million in Series A round
- Ethereum on-chain privacy startup Nocturne raises $6 million in seed round
- Binance leads InfinityStakeChain’s $12 million funding round
- Web3 healthcare platform Rymedi raises $9 million in Series A
This list was compiled using information from Messari and TechCrunch’s own reporting.
what else are you writing?
Ready to step outside the world of Web3? Here are some TechCrunch articles that caught our attention this week.
- Why 42 states united to sue Meta over children’s mental health
- AI finally brings real growth to Big Tech (TC+)
- Carta CEO contacts customers about bad press and warns them about bad press
- Will the addition of voice and video calls with X make the app sticky?
- Lawmaker says robotaxis are ‘unsuitable for Los Angeles’
Follow us on Twitter @Jacqmelinek Get the latest cryptocurrency news, memes, and more.