Sam Bankman-Fried (Sam Bankman-Fried), founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, may testify in the fraud trial as early as Thursday. At that time, prosecutors will complete a statement on the case where the founder of the bankrupt company is suspected of stealing billions of dollars from customers.
Defense attorney Mark Cohen (Mark Cohen) said during a court hearing on Wednesday that Bankman-Fried will testify in court in his trial defense, a risky move that will give prosecutors a chance to interrogate him. Bankman Fried's former close colleagues have testified accusing him of directing them to commit criminal activities.
Legal experts said that although Bankman Fried's appearance in court to testify this time is not common sense, there won't be much loss, because the testimonies issued against him by insiders over the past few weeks have portrayed his personality in a very dishonorable manner.
As a defendant in a criminal case, he has taken an unusual approach. After being charged, he did not act in a low-key manner; instead, he continued to publish his views through blog posts and was also interviewed by various reporters.
Bankman Freed pleaded not guilty and insisted that although he made mistakes in running FTX, he never wanted to steal funds. Three of Bankman-Fried's former colleagues have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. His lawyer also said that these three people deliberately implicated Bankman Fried in their testimony and hoped that their sentence would be commuted.
Bankman-Fried used misappropriated funds to support its cryptocurrency hedge fund Alameda Research, make speculative venture investments, and donate more than $100 million to the US political campaign, the prosecution said. They said Alameda stole funds from FTX through trading privileges on this exchange.
In a court document filed on Wednesday night, Cohen told the US District Court Judge that he wanted to ask Bankman-Fried to what extent the lawyer participated in arranging Alameda's loans to FTX executives. According to the prosecution, this is the main method for defendants and others to defraud money from unaware clients.
However, according to Cohen, Bankman-Fried “knew that lawyers were involved in the design and documentation of the loan, it would prove that it did indeed believe that it did not misconduct.”
Prosecutors may ask Bankman-Fried why he did not disclose Alameda's privileges to FTX clients or stock investors, and why he said FTX was “very good” through social media in the midst of a wave of customer withdrawals in November last year even though he knew FTX had a multi-billion dollar funding gap.
Cohen said in the letter that Bankman Fried reserves the right not to testify.
Cohen said in an earlier conference call that the defense may complete its statement by Friday, paving the way for next week's closing arguments and jury review. If convicted, Bankman Fried could face decades in jail.