© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the USA Courthouse in New York Metropolis, U.S., July 26, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Picture
By Jody Godoy
(Reuters) -Sam Bankman-Fried has little to lose by bucking typical knowledge and taking the stand at his legal fraud trial, following weeks of testimony that he stole billions of {dollars} from unwitting prospects of his FTX cryptocurrency change, authorized specialists mentioned.
Bankman-Fried plans to take the stand in his personal protection, his lawyer Mark Cohen mentioned at a court docket listening to on Wednesday.
Doing so will expose Bankman-Fried to probing cross-examination by prosecutors who would come armed with paperwork, messages and testimony from cooperating witnesses that they’ll use to assault his credibility.
However given Bankman-Fried’s penchant for danger, his willingness to talk publicly in regards to the fees and prosecutors’ unflattering portrayal of him on the trial, he could also be betting on convincing even one juror that he didn’t intend to commit fraud, specialists mentioned.
“It isn’t irrational to testify, if you happen to assume you’re going down as a result of the proof is so overwhelming,” protection lawyer Ilene Jaroslaw mentioned.
A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declined to remark.
Prosecutors count on to relaxation their case as quickly as Thursday morning, and Bankman-Fried may take the stand quickly after.
For Bankman-Fried to be convicted of fraud, prosecutors should present past an inexpensive doubt that he meant to defraud FTX prospects or traders. The 12 jurors should agree unanimously to return a verdict.
Defendants will not be required to testify in legal instances, however generally accomplish that in a bid to boost doubt that prosecutors have proved their case.
Elizabeth Holmes took the stand at her legal trial, testifying over a number of days that she didn’t intend to defraud traders in her blood-testing startup, Theranos. Holmes was in the end convicted on 4 out of 11 counts and sentenced to greater than 11 years in jail.
Bankman-Fried stands accused of looting buyer cash to make speculative enterprise investments, donate to political candidates, and repay lenders to his hedge fund Alameda Analysis.
The Massachusetts Institute of Know-how graduate has pleaded not responsible. At trial, his legal professionals have argued that he by no means meant to defraud anybody, and that many features on the fledgling crypto change – together with danger administration – have been “works in progress.”
The 31-year-old former billionaire has already taken an uncommon strategy for a legal defendant. As an alternative of laying low after he was charged, he revealed weblog posts on his view of what went unsuitable and met with a number of journalists.
“I did not steal funds, and I definitely did not stash billions away,” Bankman-Fried wrote in January, a month after his arrest on U.S. fraud fees.
Taking the stand carries the chance that he can be confronted with these media appearances in addition to his use of social media.
However Bankman-Fried has a lower-than-average worry of danger, based on trial testimony.
Whereas most individuals are risk-averse, Bankman-Fried views himself as “risk-neutral,” Caroline Ellison, former co-chief of Alameda, mentioned on the stand.
Ellison was one in every of three former members of Bankman-Fried’s inside circle who testified at trial, saying they dedicated crimes with him and including to a portrayal by the federal government that Bankman-Fried’s attorneys have known as a “cartoon of a villain.”
Mike Schachter, a protection lawyer at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, mentioned that, in some instances, taking the stand is the one means for a defendant to take away the “masks” placed on them by prosecutors.
Schachter represented Tom Barrack, a onetime non-public fairness govt and fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, and Lebanese businessman Jean Boustani in separate, unrelated legal instances.
Each males took the stand at their trials and have been in the end acquitted.
In each instances, he felt it was essential for them to be able to testify on each allegation jurors had heard on the trial.
That stage of preparedness is more durable to attain whereas in detention, the place sleep is fleeting and the bus to court docket typically leaves earlier than daybreak, he added.
“It actually requires laser focus. They usually will not even provide you with a cup of espresso,” he mentioned.
Bankman-Fried has been held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Middle since Aug. 11, when the choose overseeing the case jailed him for seemingly tampering with witnesses.
