Sam Bankman-Fried is pleading innocent of all charges with his defense seeking the dismissal of all fraud charges.
The lawyer argues that the government’s case lacks enough evidence to proceed.

After the prosecution rested its case in the ongoing fraud case against co-founder and former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF),  the defense team has revealed part of its defense strategy. Bankman-Fried lawyer Mark Cohen has asked the court to dismiss all fraud and money laundering charges, the lawyer argues that the government’s case lacks enough evidence to proceed.

lmao SBF’s lawyers asking for a dismissal before he takes the stand today.

Claiming the government didn’t have a sufficient case for wire fraud…

They also later note they expect SBF’s time on the stand to take “about 4 hours”

Going to be a shit show. https://t.co/s4BpXXDMBM

— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) October 26, 2023

For the past four weeks, the ongoing case has revealed the complex web that saw FTX misappropriate billions of dollars of customer funds. During this time, the government presented a line of witnesses ranging from market experts, former employees, co-founders, and regulators. Central to their argument, Bankman-Fried orchestrated the fraud and has seen the exchange lose over $7 billion of customer and investor funds. These funds were used as political donations, real estate investments, and capital investments among other misappropriations. This played a huge part in the collapse of FTX.

Related: Shockwaves in Crypto: FTX Founder’s Trial Reveals Desperate Search for Missing Billions

Cohen is now seeking a dismissal of the case, arguing a lack of enough evidence to proceed. In a letter presented to the presiding US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, SBF argues that he never intended to steal the funds but believed that its use was within the bounds of the FTX-customer relationship. Legal experts do not believe that this motion will be granted based on the evidence presented by the prosecution.

Bankman-Fried is expected to take a stand on November 12th as he presents his defense. Bankman-Fried has already been questioned, without the presence of the jury, about whether he’ll be allowed to give certain testimony in front of jurors in his defense. This testimony could be the key to this case with SBF facing decades in prison if found guilty.

As the trial enters its final phase, there have been interesting developments in the now-defunct FTX exchange. Creditor claims have recently surged, surpassing 50 cents. The creditor claims come amidst recent clawback efforts from the bankrupt crypto exchange. In addition, the company has made tremendous efforts in raising capital from companies it had previously invested in. Furthermore, FTX Debtors have revealed a plan to repay creditors up to 90 percent of their locked funds. If the bankruptcy court approves the plan, these repayments will be made in Q2 2024.

Read More: FTX Creditor Claims Heating Up: Values Soar Past 50 Cents on the Dollar

It has further been revealed that there are ongoing discussions that could see the exchange relaunch next year. FTX Trading Ltd. investment banker Kevin M. Cofsky of Perella Weinberg Partners, earlier this week, told a court hearing in Delaware that the exchange was negotiating potentially binding deals with three bidders looking to relaunch the trading platform in 2024.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ October 27, 2023 8:08 am