Sam Bankman-Fried sagt ohne Jury aus. Einzelheiten
- Sam Bankman-Fried nahm am Donnerstag im Rahmen seiner Verteidigung Stellung.
- SBF claimed he managed FTX in line with the company’s policies.
- Bankman-Fried has tried to blame some of his former colleagues for FTX’s collapse.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) took the stand to testify at his Thursday trial. However, in what has been considered a rare move, Judge Kaplan sent the jurors home to hear Bankman-Fried’s testimony and determine if it was admissible. Judge Kaplan angeblich entließ die Jury, nachdem die Staatsanwälte ihren Fall abgeschlossen hatten und die Verteidigung ihre ersten beiden Zeugen vorgelegt hatte.
Bankman-Fried was questioned about the data retention policies and FTX regulatory issues. He was also quizzed about the communications systems used by his trading firm, Alameda Research, and crypto exchange, FTX. Bankman-Fried said he believes messaging platforms like Slack and Signal align with FTX’s policies. However, prosecutors claimed he encouraged his employees to use these apps to cover their tracks.
Sam Bankman-Fried explained that he only began using the encrypted messaging app Signal after receiving approval from FTX counsel Daniel Friedberg. However, SBF said he never sought counsel to use Signal’s auto-delete feature.
Als SBF gebeten wurde, das Löschen von Nachrichten auf Signal zu erklären, behauptete SBF, dass Friedberg eine Richtlinie zur Dokumentenaufbewahrung genehmigt habe, die nur E-Mails und keine anderen Kommunikationsarten betreffe.
He explained that there were “meetings [with internal and external lawyers] to decide which channels would fall into which categories”, and that only “informal chatter for conversation” was set to auto-delete.
Additionally, Sam Bankman-Fried said he believes his management of FTX complied with the exchange’s terms of service, which permitted Alameda to borrow money from FTX customers “in many circumstances.”
Prosecutors charged SBF with cheating clients by taking $10 billion out of their accounts without authorization, which resulted in an $8 billion hole in FTX’s balance sheet when the company crashed last November.
Several former FTX executives have testified about Bankman-Fried’s alleged involvement in the illegal activities at FTX. Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison claimed during her day-long testimony that she had collaborated with Bankman-Fried to steal FTX customers’ funds and use them for Alameda investments. Another FTX executive, Gary Wang, admitted to FTX’s wrongdoing.
SBF plädierte zu jedem der sieben gegen ihn erhobenen Strafvorwürfe auf nicht schuldig. Vor aussagen on Thursday, Bankman-Fried claimed that the executives who took control of FTX after its bankruptcy misinterpreted his plans for the company. Bankman-Fried has also tried to blame some of his former colleagues for FTX’s collapse.