Sam Bankman-Fried Made Reasonable Business Decisions, Lawyers Claim
WiredOct 05, 2023
Opening Statements Presented in Bankman-Fried Trial
The Facts
On Wednesday, opening statements were made in front of a jury of 10 women and two men in the criminal trial of former cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried in a downtown Manhattan courtroom.
Bankman-Fried, who founded the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and sister hedge fund Alameda Research, is accused of diverting billions of FTX customers’ money to risky trades at Alameda and unlawful purchases.
The Spin
Narrative B
Whether the defense tries to paint Bankman-Fried as a good-faith actor or a naive math nerd, there are numerous technical reasons not to believe the story Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are telling. What it comes down to is that Bankman-Fried was living in a $30M penthouse while he was betting big with clients’ money, and now their money is gone. This doesn't look good for the former crypto czar.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that Sam Bankman-Fried will be sentenced to at least 188 months in prison before 2026, according to the Metaculus prediction community.