Sam Bankman-Fried takes the stand, but without jurors

It’s week 4 of Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial, and on Thursday the previous FTX CEO took the stand to testify on his personal behalf. Bankman-Fried is being charged with seven counts of fraud and cash laundering on the Southern District of New York courthouse.

Throughout courtroom, Bankman-Fried wore an outsized grey swimsuit and a purple tie. He arrived on the courthouse round 9:30 a.m., along with his arms folded in entrance of him, nodding at these he made eye contact with. All through the morning, Bankman-Fried appeared relaxed, turning round to face the again of the courtroom and infrequently smiling at his legal professionals.

This marks the second time Bankman-Fried has spoken out publicly within the courtroom after saying sure on the first day in response to Choose Lewis Kaplan asking if he understood he had the proper to testify if he wished to.

His first phrases spoken on the stand Thursday have been: “Good afternoon.”

However not like the remainder of the trial, Kaplan despatched the jury dwelling. He first wished to assessment Bankman-Fried’s feedback earlier than figuring out whether or not that testimony may very well be shared with jurors. “I haven’t had a listening to of this nature in a very long time, if ever,” Kaplan stated.

As soon as on the stand, Bankman-Fried was jittery and fast to reply to the questions his protection lawyer, Mark Cohen, was asking. However when it got here time for Danielle Sassoon, assistant U.S. lawyer for the SDNY, to cross-examine, he was slower to reply and stated he couldn’t bear in mind most of the information.

One of many areas Kaplan wished to listen to about was Bankman-Fried counting on legal counsel to draft phrases of service and knowledge retention insurance policies, which included utilizing Sign to share inside communication.

Bankman-Fried stated the “huge image takeaway” for these insurance policies was that particular knowledge like KYC (know your shopper) insurance policies, regulatory mandates, compliance and formal accounting required retention. However not components like drafted defective stability sheets, which Caroline Ellison testified about weeks earlier.