October 3 marked the start of the trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the cryptocurrency platform FTX, in federal court in Manhattan. This trial focuses on charges of fraud and money laundering. The first session was largely devoted to jury selection, and as anticipated, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty.

The noted financial genius, who at 31 years old experienced both success and the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison if found guilty of several of the seven charges, arrived in the courtroom in a suit and tie, presenting hair noticeably shorter than his characteristic style, according to the media present in the room.

Judge Lewis Kaplan began by asking Bankman-Fried if he wanted to exercise his right not to testify, a decision that rested solely with him. The judge then reminded the defense that they still had the opportunity to submit a plea agreement, to which they responded in the negative.

Prior to the session, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys filed a complaint with the judge opposing the Prosecutor’s request to call FTX clients as witnesses to determine whether they fully understood how FTX handled its assets. and the role of the company as custodian of them.

The defense argued that the jury must evaluate the facts from the objective perspective of a reasonable person, suggesting that customers affected by FTX’s bankruptcy may not fit this category.

This dispute stands out as a crucial point in the development of the Bankman-Fried trial, since the jury will have to rule on the complex world of cryptocurrencies, about which they may have limited knowledge, as noted by the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reported that both the Prosecutor’s Office and the defense will seek to take advantage of this alleged lack of knowledge in their favor. The Prosecutor’s Office will seek to limit the trial to the concepts of lies and theft, avoiding going into technical details. On the other hand, the defense could insist on the more complex aspects to argue that the jury cannot convict crimes it does not understand, especially when the defendant has pleaded not guilty.

K. Tovar

Source: Bancaynegocios

(Referential image source: Jonathan Borba, Unsplash)

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The imputation of former US President Donald Trump has finished shaking the political scene in the North American country, at a time when the New York tycoon had already made clear his intentions to run again in the 2024 elections, to try to return to the same White House from which he reluctantly left in January 2021.

This Thursday, shortly after his indictment was released by a New York grand jury, groups of Trump supporters gathered near his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, to reiterate their support. The former president continues to have broad social support, which he tries to take advantage of to win the Republican Party primaries again.

Trump considers that he is being the victim of a “witch hunt” with political overtones, in which the final objective would be to remove him forever from the political front line. However, US legislation theoretically would not veto him from being a presidential candidate again, even if he were under criminal suspicion.

The Constitution stipulates that all those citizens over the age of 35 who have lived in the United States for at least 14 years can run for president, and Trump himself stressed at a recent rally that “without a doubt” he would continue in the primaries regardless of the drift he took. the legal case opened against him for the payment of money to the ex porno actress Steffanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels.

“Probably, I will improve my numbers,” ironized the former president, who has always presented himself as a victim in the face of the accusations and criticism received in recent years. What is guaranteed, at least, is absolute visibility, since once again it has once again dominated the headlines of the major US media.

For now, in addition to Trump, only former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have announced candidacies for the primaries, figures that for now do not overshadow the media omnipresence of the former White House tenant, waiting for other more renowned leaders such as the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, finish clarifying their political future.

A recent CNN poll ranked Trump and DeSantis as the rivals to beat in this race that has just started, with support levels of 40 and 36 %, respectively.

The polls also show, however, that Trump continues to generate division among the American population. The average of the surveys collected by the Five Thirty Eight portal reflect that more than half of the citizens have a negative opinion of the tycoon, although his potential fishing ground for votes is still wide and reaches four out of ten people.

In the absence of seeing how the imputation will affect these figures, before the decision of the grand jury was known, there were already studies that raised what should happen the day after. Fifty-seven percent of Americans anticipated that the impeachment should invalidate a potential presidential run, according to a Quinnipiac University study.

However, in this area there was also division, since while 88% of Democrats saw Trump practically disabled, only 23% of Republican supporters wanted him to be out of the race after the impeachment.

Source: dpa

(Reference image source: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa)

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La entrada Trump’s impeachment shakes the tycoon’s political future apareció primero en Bitfinance.