NEW YORK - Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial is in the homestretch, with U.S. prosecutors and defense lawyers expected on Wednesday to present closing arguments to jurors over whether the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder stole billions of dollars from customers.
His lawyers rested their case on Tuesday after Bankman-Fried underwent a second day of tough cross-examination by the prosecution - the risk he ran by opting to testify in this own defense. Bankman-Fried, who pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy, tried over three days of testimony to convince the 12 jurors of his innocence.
Prosecutors have said Bankman-Fried used the money he looted from customers to pay off Alameda lenders, make speculative investments and donate to U.S. political candidates. They also have said he lured customers to FTX with false promises that the exchange prioritized keeping their funds safe and did not give Alameda favored treatment, and gave false assurances about FTX's health to slow a wave of withdrawals.
Danielle Sassoon, one of the prosecutors, tried to counter that narrative by grilling Bankman-Fried about statements he made before his December 2022 arrest about the safety of customer funds and Alameda's independence from FTX. Sassoon contrasted that with testimony from prosecution witnesses that he directed FTX employees to give Alameda special privileges that let the exchange spend billions of dollars in customer funds.
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