Sam Bankman-Fried has been on trial on prices of fraud and cash laundering for simply over 4 weeks, and the case appears to be like prefer it’s lastly drawing to an in depth. The prosecution started its closing statements on Wednesday; it was the protection’s flip after lunch.
Assistant U.S. legal professional Nicolas Roos stood in entrance of jurors from 10 a.m. ET till the court docket broke for lunch round 1 p.m. reiterating the prosecution’s case: Bankman-Fried lied, made false guarantees and is accountable for billions of {dollars} misplaced for 1000’s of traders on FTX. And on prime of that, that Bankman-Fried had many alternatives to return clear, however didn’t.
At one particularly dramatic second, Roos pointed on the defendant and mentioned, “Who’s accountable? This man: Samuel Bankman-Fried.” The previous CEO of FTX didn’t look again, however he tilted his head barely.
In the meantime, Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lead legal professional, mentioned the federal government is making a Hallmark movie-like case in opposition to Bankman-Fried and that he made “dangerous enterprise judgments.”
“The federal government has tried to color Sam into some kind of villain, some kind of monster,” Cohen mentioned, utilizing a mushy voice. He talked about that the prosecution has introduced up his appears to be like, the $30 million Bahamas house during which he lived with different execs, superstar connections and his intercourse life. The prosecution did this, Cohen mentioned, “to make him into somebody you dislike … moderately than make the case.”
His look, romantic relationships or being the “worst dressed CEO” don’t have anything to do with whether or not he’s responsible, Cohen mentioned. “Each film wants a villain … they wrote him in as [one].”
The prosecutor emphasised the way it was unsuitable of FTX to make use of prospects’ funds with out their data or approval. “It was a common view: Buyer funds belong to prospects and might’t be used,” Roos mentioned, including that even FTX’s phrases of service acknowledged that customers’ deposits belonged to customers.
In accordance with the proof, there was a “enormous distinction between what FTX mentioned it had for purchasers versus what it truly had” and the way billions of {dollars} have been lacking, Roos mentioned. “This isn’t about difficult crypto [terms]. It’s about deception. It’s about lies. It’s about stealing; greed.”
