Creator of FTX, a “nerd” for his defense and a fraudster for the Prosecutor’s Office

The trial against the founder of the platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), gave way this Wednesday to the opening arguments, in which the Prosecutor’s Office painted the accused as a fraudster who stole money from thousands of victims, while his defense opted for the portrait of a “nerd” who acted “in good faith”.

The criminal trial began yesterday in a federal court in New York with jury selection and the presentation of potential witnesses, which include SBF’s parents and former executives of Alameda Research, FTX’s partner firm: Caroline Ellison – ex-partner of the accused, now turned against him- and Sam Trabucco.

Once the panel of 12 jurors and 6 alternates had been chosen, concluded this Wednesday around noon, Judge Lewis Kaplan gave way to the oral arguments, in which, as expected, both parties offered contrasting descriptions of SBF, a young promise of the then disgraced cryptocurrency sector.

The Prosecutor’s Office described the life of luxury that the then billionaire businessman led in the Bahamas just a year ago and assured that it was a facade “built on lies” by using FTX “to commit fraud on a large scale” and thanks to the theft of “billions of dollars from thousands of victims.”

For its part, the defense offered a kinder image of SBF, that of a “math nerd who didn’t drink or party” and who acted “in good faith”and shot Ellison: the accused trusted her to manage Alameda and establish “protections” in the funds but she did not do it, reports The Guardian.

The process, which will last about six weeks, then moved on to the questioning of witnesses, beginning with an investor who saw his investment evaporate with the fall of FTX – which is estimated to have lost about US$8 billion in total – and recounted how he tried unsuccessfully to withdraw. his deposit of US$100,000 (95,190 euros) in cryptocurrencies, according to The New York Times.

One of the defendant’s apparent supporters is another young man with a similar story who attended the trial today: Martin Shkreli, a pharmaceutical executive nicknamed “Pharma Bro”, who went from appearing on the Forbes list to being tried for fraud and spending five years in prison for, among other things, inflating the price of several medications.

Bankman-Fried, 31, could spend the rest of his life behind bars if convicted of the seven counts of fraud he faces; In addition, he has another trial pending by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that could cost him millions in fines.

Source: EFE