Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud

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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