Sam Bankman-Fried Challenges Prosecutors' Evidence
The Sam Bankman-Fried court drama keeps on going. The former FTX CEO is preparing for a hearing in October and challenging prosecutors' evidence.
On 1 September, Bankman-Fried's attorneys filed new court papers. The businessman's team argues that prosecutors are not allowed to present evidence related to charges previously dropped or excluded from the case. These include the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for bribing officials in the Bahamas, bank fraud and illegal campaign finance donations.
The attorneys also insist on using the full text of the FTX terms of service, rather than parts of it. In their opinion, this can only confuse the jury.
The Bankman-Fried team's objections also include the prosecution's exclusion of facts such as the entrepreneur's intentions to return clients' funds, the legal counsel resolving the company problems involvement, and other defense evidence.
Sam Bankman-Fried continues to deny his guilt of fraud and funding politicians. While his team is sure that the prosecution is only using facts that are beneficial for its version of the case.
An entrepreneur mulls over what evidence he can use in his defense. He accuses the DOJ of not segregating FTX and FTX.US in its prosecution. The legal team insists that the US operations should be kept apart as the charges relate to international business. However, the DOJ proves otherwise, citing the celebrities' advertising campaign months before the FTX collapse.
The Bankman-Fried trial will take place in October.
What about FTX?
Cryptocurrency exchange continues to hit the media headlines. The crypto community first drew attention to the suspicious activity of the FTX wallet.
🚨 FTX wallets on the move🚨
— Pump House 🍥 (@pumphouz) September 3, 2023
Over $1.5B worth of $SOL, SPL tokens, and Wrapped #Bitcoin in FTX's Solana addresses are shifting‼️
Looks like they're gearing up for potential sell-offs.
Keep an eye on this, especially the ~$200M in #Solana Wrapped $BTC.#crypto #bitcoin … pic.twitter.com/sRDI6hvTJD
Arkham Intelligence data showed that the wallet transferred $10 million from the Solana network to Ethereum. Users suspected a possible token dump amid the upcoming FTX bankruptcy proceedings.
Speaking of the FTX bankruptcy case, it's worth noting the new details of the Delaware County court filing. According to court filings, the majority of financial transactions were made in favor of individuals in powerful positions in the business.
Turns out that Alameda Research's former co-CEO, Sam Trabucco, was paid $2.5 million for a yacht before he left the company. The deal was a parting gesture from Alameda Research.
And the total payout to former FTX executives was $3 billion.
FTX's new CEO John Ray III announced the exchange's relaunch will be in the second quarter of 2024.
