SBF Trial, Day 15: Prosecutors Hammer Bankman-Fried’s Contradictions With Reams of Evidence
Oct 31, 2023
On day 15 of the trial, prosecutors relentlessly challenged Sam Bankman-Fried’s testimony, highlighting glaring contradictions. Danielle Sassoon showcased devastating evidence, including memos and internal documents, that undermined his claims. Notably, a chat revealed his intentions to buy MAPs token, contradicting his earlier denials. Further, he admitted to insincerity about regulatory support in a DM, raising eyebrows about his authenticity. The meticulous cross-examination aimed to dismantle his credibility and shed light on his true actions at FTX and Alameda.
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SBF's Contradiction on Trading
Danielle Sassoon used SBF's own Signal messages to contradict his testimony about non-involvement in Alameda's trading.
The messages showed SBF expressing interest in buying MAPS tokens to influence Alameda's average price.
question_answer ANECDOTE
SBF's Contradictory Stance on Regulation
Sassoon revealed SBF's contradictory stance on regulation, publicly supporting customer protection while privately dismissing it.
Leaked Twitter DMs showed SBF admitting his pro-regulation stance was "just PR."
question_answer ANECDOTE
SBF's Claim of Ignorance Debunked
SBF claimed not to remember a spreadsheet with doctored balance sheets, a key piece of evidence.
Sassoon presented Google metadata proving SBF had accessed the document, contradicting his claim.
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Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze
Laura Shin
The Cryptopians delves into the story of idealists, technologists, and opportunists fighting to bring cryptocurrency to the masses. The book focuses on the founding of Ethereum by Vitalik Buterin and the subsequent crypto fever it created. It introduces readers to larger-than-life characters such as Buterin, Charles Hoskinson, and Joe Lubin, highlighting the personal and professional conflicts that shaped the early days of Ethereum. The narrative explores the booms, busts, and internecine wars within the crypto world, revealing it as a deeply personal struggle to influence the coming revolution in money, culture, and power.
In a trial during which he has suffered many low points, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried may have reached a nadir on day 15 as prosecutor Danielle Sassoon used his own words to show stark contradictions from his earlier testimony and a seemingly callous disregard for customer assets.
The tenacious, methodical Sassoon punctuated her more than four hours of interrogation on Monday afternoon with devastating audio and visual evidence of Bankman-Fried, including memos to himself, internal FTX and Alameda documents, and testimony to Congress that countered statements he’d made under his defense team team’s kinder questioning. In one instance, Sassoon showed a Signal chat in which Bankman-Fried expressed his interest in purchasing MAPs token, a direct refutation of his testifying that he “was not involved at all in any way” in trading.
In another instance, she illustrated Bankman-Fried’s alleged lack of regard for his Twitter followers, showing a screenshot of a Twitter DM with Kelsy Piper in which he admits to being insincere about his support for regulation that protects customers, telling Piper at one point, “just PR, fuck regulators.”
Bankman-Fried claimed not to remember a spreadsheet with seven, different balance sheets created by then Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison to make the company’s balance sheet look better than it was, a key piece of evidence that Ellison addressed in her testimony. Sassoon presented Google metadata showing Bankman-Fried had read the document.
Dressed in a light gray suit with a purple tie, Bankman-Fried claimed repeatedly not to remember other events or his responses in conversations, and he answered other questions with curt yeses and nos, unlike the windy, often convoluted responses that he provided to his defense team earlier in the day and on Monday. And as Sassoon continued to catch him in contradictions, he seemed to grow irritable and occasionally rocked back and forth in his chair.
Prosecutors will continue their cross-examination on Tuesday followed by redirect for one or two hours before the defense closes its case. The prosecution will then call two rebuttal witnesses.
Unchained 