The Looming Question: Will Bankman-Fried Testify in His Criminal Case?

Sam Bankman-Fried Took Risks at FTX. Will He Bet on His Own Testimony?

With federal prosecutors set to wrap up their case this week, Bankman-Fried’s legal team will be searching for some way to change the momentum. While taking the stand in one’s own defense is usually considered too perilous a step to leave to chance, the state of the trial, plus Bankman-Fried’s limited options, point toward testifying as his best shot, lawyers said.

“Under the current state of play, unless Sam does something dramatic, he is almost certainly going to be convicted,” said Evan Barr, a former federal prosecutor and partner at the law firm Reed Smith.

Bankman-Fried’s likely hope would be that his testimony in the least wins over a couple of jurors, leading to a hung jury, Barr said.

U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce argues SEC’s case against Binance

In an amicus brief filed on Oct. 19, the U.S. Chamber of Digital Commerce claims that the SEC’s actions against Binance’s U.S. operations are akin to “suing the equivalent of a grocery store selling oranges and other fruit.”

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The SEC alleges that the exchanges violated securities laws by offering unregistered staking products and listing unregistered securities. The exchanges have responded by arguing that the SEC has not provided clear guidance on which cryptocurrencies are securities.

The Chamber has criticized the SEC’s approach, arguing that it fails to distinguish between digital tokens and the investment contracts that may exist around them. They also mentioned that this failure has led to the misclassification of many crypto tokens as unregistered securities.

Prosecutors in Sam Bankman-Fried trial compare defense argument to ‘Dumb and Dumber’

The defense, according to prosecutors, is trying to make the claim to the jury that clients still had a credit to the funds they deposited even if the money wasn’t there because it was being used for other things. Prosecutors say the argument is “untethered to the facts of the case” and that a “credit to obtain funds at a later date, if such funds are ultimately available, is clearly not the same, or as valuable, as the money or property itself.”

In a footnote, the prosecution writes, “A popular movie from the 1990s illustrates the point: a briefcase, once filled with money, is not the same as a briefcase later filled with IOUs.” In “Dumb and Dumber,” when the briefcase reaches its owner, it’s filled with paper.

“That’s as good as money, sir,” says Carrey, playing the character Lloyd Christmas.

The Sam Bankman-Fried Trial: It’s the Courthouse Life for Us

There are two layers to the insanity: the main courtroom and overflow. Top-floor warriors get there before 7:30 a.m. ET for one of the handful of top bench seats the Marshals arbitrarily dole out. Everyone else gets funneled to overflow, a few floors down.

CoinDesk’s trial team has learned the secrets of both. Court is in recess until Thursday, so today we’ll give you a peek behind the curtain.

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Attendees begin filing in around 9:00 a.m. ET. As long as they stay on the Marshals’ good side, members of the general public retain their seats until close at 4:30 p.m. ET. But there’s plenty of ways to screw up. Don’t chew gum, don’t use cell phones, don’t read newspapers, don’t rip vapes, don’t wear hats and DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TALKING. All of these infractions can result in eviction and banishment to overflow.

Assuming you 1. Do get in, and 2. Don’t get booted, you have the best seat possible to watch this drama unfold. I recommend watching the jurors’ faces.

Emails, Wires, Katy Perry: How Bankman-Fried Bought Influence

A meeting with President Bill Clinton in midtown Manhattan, a dinner with the head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, an invitation from Anthony Scaramucci to attend a Steelers game. These were some examples presented in court that showed how Sam Bankman-Fried was rising in prominence just as his trading firm Alameda Research was running out of money.

A new trove of documents were presented in Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial this week as evidence of how the founder of FTX and his associates spent voraciously on investments, donations and real estate even in the final months before the crypto exchange’s collapse. Bankman-Fried is accused of using billions of customer funds from FTX to spend lavishly and engage in speculative trading through Alameda Research, FTX’s sister hedge fund.

Ex-Goldman Banker Goel Asks for No Jail Time on Insider Trading Conviction

Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Brijesh Goel asked a judge to give him no prison time for his insider trading conviction and apologized to the bank for his actions.

Goel, who was found guilty in June of passing inside information on Goldman deals to a close friend, said in a Wednesday court filing that he now faced deportation from the US to his native India due to his conviction. The potential separation from his wife, who works as a doctor in New York, and other friends and family in the US was punishment enough, he said.

Crypto Lawyers Eye SEC Decision to Dismiss Ripple Execs’ Civil Charges

Experts in cryptocurrency law on Friday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may have dropped its final claims against executives at Ripple Labs because it wants to speed up a potential appeal to the Second Circuit—but that’s not the only noteworthy part of Thursday’s news.

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Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton partner Matt Solomon, who led Garlinghouse’s legal team alongside Cleary partner Nowell Bamberger, described the dismissal as “the right thing for the Commission to do.”

“In my experience, the Commission doesn’t dismiss cases lightly,” he said. “In fact, it’s incredibly rare. I think the Commission recognized that they could not win this trial against Chris and Brad.”

Solomon noted that the Ripple case was filed “in the waning days of the former chairman’s tenure.” Suing Ripple was one of the last official acts of former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, who resigned in December 2020.

Solomon said the charge of aiding and abetting never made sense for the Ripple executives, because aiding and abetting requires knowing or reckless acts.