Robert Bankman-Fried's defense team sides with defense

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Robert Bankman-Fried's defense team sides with defense

Bankman-Fried's defense team countered that the one-time FTX founder acted in good faith - even as his businesses grew too quickly and collapsed massively through no fault of his own, his lawyers said. They assigned some of the blame to one of his employees, his former paramour Caroline Ellison, and said she failed to install safeguards. Ellison has already pleaded guilty and will testify during the trial.

The FTX app and terms of service told customers the money they put on the exchange was being kept for them as if they were sitting right there - but Bankman-Fried diverted those funds to a smaller and secretive company called Alameda Research and spent them on 'luxuries' for himself, his friends and family members, Rehn said. Bankman-Fried also used the money to make political donations that allowed him to curry favor with powerful people on Capitol Hill, Rehn said.

Bankman-Fried took more than $10 billion out of FTX to pay its sister company Alameda Research's debts in May and June of 2022, and tried to 'orchestrate a cover-up' by ordering the creation of false financial statements, Rehn said. He testified before Congress, claiming that FTX had never stolen customers' money.

Cohen's opening statements began by asking the jurors to judge based on real-life experiences and that he will explain what really happened, moments after Rehn presented the prosecution's opening argument. The assistant U.S. Attorney's office said yesterday that the former crypto mogul lied to the world. and'stole money' while continuously promising customers their assets on FTX were safe.

Before the DOJ made its opening arguments, Judge Kaplan read a set of preliminary instructions to the jury for about 20 minutes, reminding the 12 jurors and six alternates not to conduct any research. He added that they should evaluate testimony and weigh it against and alongside other evidence such as the FTX and Alameda internal documents. The opening arguments did not count as evidence, he said, likening them to movie trailers.