NEW YORK — In a closing argument, a prosecutor instructed New York jurors Wednesday to observe overwhelming proof of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried ‘s “pyramid of deceit” to seek out him responsible of defrauding prospects and traders of at the least $10 billion whereas a protection lawyer mentioned prosecutors had been unfairly portraying an sincere entrepreneur as a monster.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Nicolas Roos launched a day of closings in Manhattan federal court docket by saying Bankman-Fried was in charge for stealing billions of {dollars} from traders worldwide. Bankman-Fried insisted throughout 4 days of testimony that he did not know his prospects’ deposits had been in such hazard till weeks earlier than his firms collapsed.
“He instructed a narrative and he lied to you,” Roos instructed jurors a day after Bankman-Fried concluded his testimony on the monthlong trial.
The prosecutor mentioned Bankman-Fried needed jurors to consider that he had no thought what was taking place at his firms or that there was fraud, however his testimony conflicted with descriptions by fellow executives, his “companions in crime,” and different proof together with monetary paperwork and Bankman-Fried’s public statements.
Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, urged jurors to evaluation his consumer’s testimony to see the reality and discover that he didn’t have the mindset to commit crimes as he tried to avoid wasting his companies. He mentioned none of Bankman-Fried’s former executives testified that he instructed them to steal cash or commit crimes.
“Sam acted in good religion all through,” Cohen mentioned. “He did not wish to defraud anybody. … He did not intend to defraud anybody.”
He criticized prosecutors, saying they displayed unflattering footage of Bankman-Fried’s informal wardrobe and messy hair, together with when he slept on a personal jet, and spoke of his $30 million condo and his enthusiasm to fulfill celebrities to painting him as “some form of villain, some form of monster.”
“Hope you’ve got seen it is merely not true,” Cohen mentioned. “Sam’s look has nothing to do with how the FTX trade labored. His look and romantic relationships don’t have anything to do with whether or not he’s responsible of the counts within the indictment.”
The lawyer added of a defendant who now has brief hair and wears a swimsuit every day: “We’ll agree that there was a time that Sam most likely was the worst dressed CEO on the earth and possibly had the worst haircut.”
Bankman-Fried, 31, was arrested final December, a month after the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency trade platform he opened in 2019, and Alameda Analysis, the cryptocurrency hedge fund he began in 2017.
Extradited from the Bahamas to New York, he was freed on a $250 million private recognizance bond with digital monitoring to make sure he remained at his guardian’s dwelling in Palo Alto, California, till August, when Choose Lewis A. Kaplan jailed Bankman-Fried after concluding that he had tried to affect potential trial witnesses.
Roos mentioned the arrest of Bankman-Fried got here weeks after hundreds of FTX prospects worldwide had been overcome with anxiousness, dread and finally despair once they tried to withdraw “investments, financial savings and nest eggs for the long run” from their accounts solely to be taught that “their cash was gone. FTX was bankrupt.”
“Who was accountable?” Roos requested, solely to shortly level to Bankman-Fried, sitting between his legal professionals. “This man, Samual Bankman-Fried. What occurred? He spent his prospects’ cash and he lied to them about it.”
The prosecutor mentioned Bankman-Fried spent the cash on actual property, donations, promotions, investments and political contributions.
“This was a pyramid of deceit constructed by the defendant on a basis of lies and false guarantees, all to get cash, and finally it collapsed, leaving numerous victims in its wake,” he mentioned.
Roos instructed jurors that in the event that they consider even one in all a number of former executives who testified that Bankman-Fried directed them to steal cash, they need to convict him.
The jury was anticipated to start deliberations on Thursday after listening to a rebuttal by prosecutors and directions on the legislation.