Original - Odaily

Author - Loopy

(SBF’s new hairstyle)

Sam Bankman-Frieds fraud trial begins in the US on Tuesday, 10 months after his arrest. This also marks the end of a generation of legendary FTX, and things are about to come to an end.

SBF currently faces multiple charges of wire fraud and misappropriation of client funds. Before todays court hearing, SBFs legal team had tried several times to appeal and apply for bail, but to no avail. SBFs legal team noted that the prisons lack of internet access hampered SBFs preparations for a defence, and complained that vegetarian meals were not available. (SBF is known to be a vegetarian altruist.)

An interesting coincidence is that the SBF court hearing was very lively, with many onlookers who came here to admire it, but they only lasted half a time - a more exciting judicial session was held in another nearby court. program. Today is day two of the New York attorney general’s $250 million civil fraud trial against former President Donald Trump, his companies, and two of Trump’s children. A large number of people turned around immediately after halftime to watch the Trump lawsuit.

At present, the first day of SBF court session has ended. What are the exciting contents? Odaily brings you four main highlights.

Late SBF, new hair style that no longer explodes

Sam Bankman-Frieds trial is officially scheduled to begin at 9:30am. And for reasons unknown to us, SBF arrived at 9:55 am.

People who observed the trial said that the most surprising thing was that although SBF was unseemly late to the court, he had a decent appearance and changed his usual style.

First, Gone was the trademark shaggy afro, which was given a short haircut by an inmate at a Brooklyn jail.

Separately, SBFs legal team submitted a proposal to the court on Tuesday seeking permission to prepare business formal attire for SBF. The court granted the motion and the legal team allegedly provided SBF with four dress shirts, three ties, a belt, four pairs of socks, two pairs of shoes and appropriate underwear.

(Refreshed SBF)

SBF has previously been seen with his signature afro and casual suits, even using the look during meetings with former President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and director of the White House Communications Office during the Trump era, previously complained, Of course I dont like the way he dresses. When you are in Rome, you should do as the Romans do.

In addition, he has lost significantly more weight than when he was arrested 10 months ago.

Due to the large scale of the case, many well-known figures in the industry have become witnesses in this trial.

An assistant prosecutor read a list of potential witnesses, including FTX executives (SBFs girlfriend) Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Ryne Miller and Constance Wang, among others, as well as SBF family members Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried. Of course, that also includes SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, who has complained about SBF’s image.

In addition, multiple financial institutions are also on the witness list, including Jane Street Capital, Sequoia Capital, and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. In the crypto industry, there are Binance, BlockFi, Genesis, Voyager Digital, and Nexo. There is also Guarding Against Epidemics, a non-profit organization established by the SBF brothers.

Are there any grounds for innocence for SBF?

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed fraud charges against SBF, but SBFs legal team believes otherwise, maintaining its innocence.

Lawyers for SBF argue that FTX, the company involved in the case, is unregulated in the United States and is not located in the United States. And SBF strictly adheres to all regulatory requirements regarding FTX US.

The Justice Department believes that the lack of encryption regulations in the United States does not prevent criminal charges from being brought against SBF. Because even without explicit legislation targeting crypto, existing rules can protect customer funds. The Justice Department emphasized that existing law prohibits companies from stealing customer assets and defendants will be charged under this law. In addition, the defendants made material misrepresentations to customers and stole customers assets.

According to prosecutors, SBF was not offered a plea deal. This means it will be difficult for him to plead guilty to receive a lighter sentence.

Some legal sources speculate that even a relatively lenient sentence for SBF in this case would be at least 30 years in prison. For reference, Bernie Madoff, the most notorious financial fraud in history, was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Therefore, some legal persons speculate that the sentence for SBF may be between 30 and 120 years.

What did you do today?

According to court procedures, todays trial began with opening statements and one-hour court statements by both the prosecution and the defense. In a trial that may last up to six weeks, the most important task today is actually jury selection.

Nearly 50 potential jurors will answer about 50 questions from Judge Kaplan to determine whether they can be fair and impartial. Of the 50 people, 12 jurors and six alternates will be selected, for a total of 18 people.

At least five potential jurors said they, their companies, or close relatives invested in cryptocurrencies and suffered losses there.

If they are ultimately selected as jurors, they will receive reimbursement for travel expenses to and from the court and a daily salary of US$50 to US$60. But they are not allowed to use mobile phones, research information about the case or read news reports during the trial. When this is over, you can satisfy your curiosity, Judge Kaplan explained.

The jury list was not confirmed after the first day, but Judge Kaplan said he expected to confirm the jury list on the second day of the trial.

After the jury is set, the prosecution and defense will hold opening arguments and the jury can begin hearing witness testimony.

Will SBFs romance affect the case?

It is worth noting that one of the core figures of FTX Alameda and SBF girlfriend Caroline Ellison is also on the witness list.

Previously, the girlfriend, who had a lot of inside information, had provided a lot of clues to the Department of Justice, and she had pleaded guilty to fraud charges at the end of last year. Therefore, the girlfriend’s position may affect the direction of the case to a certain extent.

A new book recently published by The Big Short author Michael Lewis reveals a lot of details about the relationship between SBF and Ellison. SBF once told Ellison, I dont feel happy.

SBF once made a list of negatives that he sent to Ellison, in which he detailed how he had difficulty respecting others and preferred to be alone. I really have no soul... My empathy is fake, my feelings are fake, I cant feel happiness. But he also wrote twice, I really like f**king you. .

Ellison believes SBF sent her mixed signals, He told me he was ambivalent about having sex with me, but still had sex with me and then ignored me for months.

Related Reading:

Why is SBF so difficult to defend? One article to understand the jury’s focus”