Sam Bankman-Fried says he didn’t defraud FTX customers

He stated that Alameda “borrowed” them

On Friday, Sam Bankman-Fried sat on the stand, as soon as once more in an outsized grey go well with and purple tie, and testified in entrance of a jury. He’s on trial for seven costs associated to fraud and cash laundering and has been sitting silently the previous 4 weeks, ready for his probability to talk.

Bankman-Fried co-founded FTX in 2019 alongside Gary Wang, after they co-founded crypto buying and selling agency Alameda Analysis within the fall of 2017. On the time, they have been 25 years outdated with no historical past of beginning an organization, he stated. When he obtained into the crypto world, he stated he knew “principally nothing.” However over time, he stated, his imaginative and prescient grew to “construct the very best [crypto exchange] product in the marketplace” and to “transfer the ecosystem ahead.”

“Turned out [to be] the other of that,” Bankman-Fried stated. “Lots of people obtained damage.”

When requested by his lead lawyer, Mark Cohen, whether or not he defrauded or took buyer funds, Bankman-Fried stated, “No, I didn’t.”

On Thursday, Choose Lewis Kaplan heard from Bankman-Fried without a jury to find out whether or not his testimony might be shared with jurors. Amongst these matters: FTX’s knowledge retention coverage, the truth that he “skimmed over” phrases of service, Alameda’s use of the exchanges’ buyer funds, and extra details about Dan Friedberg, who Bankman-Fried employed to be FTX’s basic counsel.

On the stand on Friday, Bankman-Fried appeared extra considerate along with his solutions than he had yesterday. “I made quite a few small errors,” Bankman-Fried stated Friday. However he stated the most important mistake was having no threat administration staff at FTX, which led to “vital oversights.”