Sam Bankman-Fried has been on trial on fraud and money laundering charges for just over four weeks, and the case appears to be finally coming to an end. The prosecution began its closing statements on Wednesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos stood before the jury from 10 a.m. until the court broke for lunch around 1 p.m., reiterating the prosecution's case: Bankman-Fried lied, made false promises and is liable. of billions of dollars lost by thousands of investors in FTX. And on top of that, Bankman-Fried had plenty of opportunities to come clean, but she didn't.
In a particularly dramatic moment, Roos pointed at the accused and said: “Who is responsible? This man: Samuel Bankman-Fried.” The former CEO of FTX did not look back, but bowed his head slightly.
The prosecutor emphasized that FTX was wrong to use customer funds without their knowledge or approval. “It was a universal view: customer funds belong to the customers and cannot be used,” Roos said, adding that even FTX's terms of service stated that user deposits belonged to the users.
According to the evidence, there was a “huge difference between what FTX said it had for clients and what it actually had” and how billions of dollars were missing, Roos said. «This is not complicated cryptography. It's about deception. These are lies. It's about stealing; greed."
The prosecutor brought up Bankman-Fried's testimony, noting that on Friday, when his defense was asking questions, his testimony "went smoothly," but when it came time for prosecutors to question him, the defendant's "perfect memory" He disappeared and "was a different person."
Cohen said Bankman-Fried was "far from clear and thorough." But he argued that he testified “because he wanted to tell [jurors] what happened,” and that any answer he gave was considered “too long” or “too short” or that he was “being evasive,” so “nothing could satisfy him.” the opinion of the government.” of the."
He emphasized, once again, that prosecutors “portrayed Sam as a villain, a criminal mastermind.” At that point, Bankman-Fried looked at his attorney and the jury. He remained uneasy and so did his mother, Barbara Fried, as they both have been throughout the trial.
The prosecution again stressed that Alameda was simply taking money “borrowed” or stolen from clients for his own expenses and purposes, and Bankman-Fried testified that he knew that the cryptocurrency trading company he founded had secret advantages and privileges for “large amounts.” unlimited money, without restrictions,” Roos said.
Cohen scoffed that “perhaps the most evil act” was creating “backdoor codes to steal money.” But these codes were not secret, he said, and anyone with access to the code base could see them. He also said some codes were created for “bookkeeping and accounting purposes,” not to “abuse customers.”
But during Roos' arguments, he said, "The defendant knew what he was doing was wrong."
One juror raised her eyebrows and bit her lip when Roos said this. When Roos said that borrowing from FTX was essentially money that Alameda could steal, another juror looked at him and nodded.
And when FTX collapsed, Roos said, Bankman-Fried doubled down on her "lies" by making public statements like "FTX is fine." The assets are fine.”
Bankman-Fried faces a maximum sentence of 115 years for seven counts related to fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. .
