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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photographs
The trial of disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried kicked off in earnest Wednesday with legal professionals from either side delivering their opening statements.
“He had wealth. He had energy. He had affect,” stated Nathan Rehn, an assistant U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York. “However all of that — all of that — was constructed on lies.”
Rehn charted the rise and equally dramatic fall of Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire, which embody the cryptocurrency alternate FTX and a crypto-focused hedge fund, referred to as Alameda Analysis.
“A yr in the past, it regarded like Sam Bankman-Fried was sitting on high of the world,” Rehn stated, nodding to Bankman-Fried’s lavish life-style.
Excessive-flying life-style in a $30 million Bahamas condominium
Bankman-Fried lived in a $30 million condominium in The Bahamas, and he traveled all around the world on personal planes. Rehn famous Bankman-Fried frolicked with actors, athletes, and politicians.
Rehn detailed how Bankman-Fried took cash from FTX clients “to make himself even richer.” He purchased property for household, buddies, and himself, and he made speculative investments.
Bankman-Fried’s crypto firm was like an enormous piggy financial institution, the prosecution alleges. At any time, Bankman-Fried may — and did — use cash from FTX clients.
Bankman-Fried, who has been jailed for greater than a month, appeared to pay shut consideration. He took notes on a laptop computer he’s permitted to make use of throughout the trial.
A “math nerd” from MIT
His lead legal professional, Mark Cohen, pushed again on that narrative which advised that Bankman-Fried is a villain. . He stated FTX in its infancy was rising at an unimaginable tempo, “like constructing a aircraft as you are flying it.”
“Sam did not defraud anybody,” he stated. “Sam didn’t steal from anybody. He didn’t intend to steal from anybody.”
Cohen criticized the federal government for displaying {a photograph} to the jury of Bankman-Fried in what was his trademark look earlier than he was despatched to jail in August: shorts and a t-shirt, with unkempt hair.
Cohen sugested Bankman-Fried was truly “a math nerd” who went to MIT. He was somebody, he added, “who did not drink or get together.”
Cooperating witness was former girlfriend
After Bankman-Fried was arrested in December, prosecutors filed legal prices towards 4 members of his internal circle, together with Caroline Ellison, who was Bankman-Fried’s girlfriend on the time and CEO of Alameda Analysis.
Rehn informed the jury they’ll hear immediately from that quartet of cooperating witnesses, together with Ellison.
Cohen inspired jurors to be skeptical of their testimony, noting that they had pleaded responsible and are more likely to obtain a lighter sentence on account of their cooperation.
In an try and preempt that argument, Rehn urged jurors to “scrutinize their testimony rigorously.” However, he informed them, they’ll provide first-hand insights into the multibillion-dollar fraud the federal government alleges Bankman-Fried perpetrated with their assist.
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