{"id":85755,"date":"2023-10-16T11:33:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T08:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=85755"},"modified":"2025-09-13T01:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T22:15:09","slug":"defense-in-the-ftx-case-seeks-cross-examination-of-prosecution-witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/defense-in-the-ftx-case-seeks-cross-examination-of-prosecution-witnesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense in the FTX case seeks cross-examination of prosecution witnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawyers for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) filed a motion to conduct a cross-examination of the prosecution’s witnesses. This was reported by Decrypt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the lawyers, they are currently limited in the ways they can obtain information to build their defense.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe government objected to the defense’s attempt to question government witnesses who diverged from its theory, but the defense should not be hindered from \u201cconcretizing\u201d their theories through cross-examination,\u201d the lawyers said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Additionally, the defense asked to bar prosecutors from relying on non-professional witnesses for expert testimony.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to prove FTX’s innocence in the fraud case, the lawyers argued that the company adhered to its terms of service regardless of how customers understood them.<\/p>\n

In a \u043e\u0442\u0432\u0435\u0442\u0435<\/a> to this motion prosecutors stated that the law is not limited to breaches of the written contract. According to the evidence they presented, Bankman-Fried abused client funds and repeatedly distorted how FTX treated them.<\/p>\n

The prosecution did not object to cross-examining its witnesses by the defense, except for questions designed to show that the government acted negligently in its dealings with FTX.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThere is no basis to exclude or limit evidence of customers’ beliefs regarding their understanding and interpretation of how FTX would handle their deposits,\u201d the prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Buchalter shareholder Daniel Silva believes the defense is shaping the testimonies of future witnesses to prevent further damage to SBF’s image. In his view, the victims’ testimony \u201cmakes jurors more sympathetic\u201d to the government’s position.<\/p>\n

Alongside the high likelihood of an acquittal, SBF’s lawyers face a narrower set of avenues to challenge the government’s narrative. By contrast, the prosecution still has more room to maneuver.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIf there are seven counts currently before the court and three or four different theories on these counts, prosecutors only need to prove one of them, and they could seek a maximum sentence of 20 years. By contrast, SBF would have to prevail on all of them to obtain an acquittal,\u201d Silva explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Earlier, former Alameda Research head Caroline Ellison disclosed to the court details of the meeting prior to the company’s collapse<\/a>. At that meeting she reported a backdoor into the exchange’s customer funds and illiquid investments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawyers for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) filed a motion to cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1162,1236,1403],"class_list":["post-85755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-court-cases","tag-ftx","tag-sam-bankman-fried"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"17","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85757,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85755\/revisions\/85757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}