The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried kicks off this week

Jury selection begins tomorrow in the fraud and conspiracy trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old cofounder of FTX who oversaw the collapse of the once third-largest crypto exchange (valued at $32 billion at its peak).

SBF has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges he’s facing. If convicted, several of the counts would come with maximum sentences of 20 years in prison.

🪙 Background: For length’s sake, we decided to focus this piece on details of the upcoming trial (otherwise it’d feel longer than the return flight back home after a weekend in Vegas). But here’s a great TechCrunch article explaining how the FTX saga got to this point.

⚖️ What to expect over the next six-ish weeks:

• SBF’s defense: Daniel Richman, professor of law at Columbia University and former federal prosecutor, told Wired that in white-collar cases, there are only a few defenses: “It wasn’t me, I didn’t mean it, and the people that say I did are lying.” Based on interviews prior to his arrest and legal motions ahead of his trial, SBF appears to be teeing up the ‘ole “I didn’t mean it” defense playbook.
• Testimony from FTX/Alameda employees: FTX cofounder and former CTO Gary Wang, and Alameda Research’s former CEO, Caroline Ellison – the latter of which SBF had a romantic relationship with – both pled guilty in December 2022 to federal criminal charges in relation to the FTX collapse. They’re cooperating with prosecutors and should be major witnesses in the trial.