Sam Bankman-Fried has concluded his last testimony in his criminal trial and now the fate of the former FTX CEO lies in the hands of Jurors with the power to convict him to his sentence or exonerate him.
Former FTX CEO Testimony Reaches Climax
Founder and former CEO of failed FTX Trading Ltd, Sam Bankman-Fried has been on trial after being accused of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange.
The former CEO has constantly pleaded not guilty on all charges and took the stand for the first time last Friday to personally defend his case on the fraud trial.
Tuesday marked the Bankman-Fried’s last day of testimony in a court trial headed by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan and the FTX founder was seen to be struggling with the barrage of questions delivered to him by prosecutors.
When Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon probed Bankman-Fried on his stance on cryptocurrency exchange regulations and if he advocated for it, the former FTX CEO affirmed he did so to Congress. However, the prosecutors revealed evidence of Bankman-Fried declaring profanities to regulators and customers.
Following the completion of his testimony, the defense rested its case and now the court’s focus is on the next phase of the trial which is the closing arguments, scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
During this phase, the prosecutors and defense will deliver their final arguments to the 12 Jurors consisting of nine women and three men some of whom are nurses, social workers, teachers, and more.
Sam Bankman-Fried is presently out of opportunities to further convince the Jurors, and the testimony of some of his closest work colleagues and employees, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Adam Yedidia, and former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison have made his defense and trial case more complicated.
Sam Bankman-Fried Denies Prior Knowledge Of Misappropriated Customer Funds
In his recent testimony, Sam Bankman-Fried denied all allegations of being aware of the billions of dollars in customer funds misappropriated before the collapse of FTX.
When asked by Danielle Sassoon during his testimony if he had warned his employees not to spend customer funds, Bankman-Fried’s primary response was not being able to remember giving any directive.
The former CEO repeatedly told the court that he had not defrauded anyone or embezzled customer funds. Instead, he spread the blame on his former employees and friends, stating that he regretted not properly looking into the $8 billion shortfall in FTX’s balance sheet.
Bankman-Fried testified that when he asked his executives about the shortfall, they stated that they were preoccupied and told him to stop asking questions since it was distracting.