Two visions of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced crypto king, clashed on Wednesday in a New York courtroom in the opening arguments of his fraud trial.
As he was known, SBF had wealth and power but it was all built on lies, said prosecutor Thane Rehn in his opening remarks.
The former crypto darling committed massive fraud by stealing money from the accounts of customers of his FTX exchange platform and using them for his own account, Rehn said.
If found guilty, the 31-year-old faces more than 100 years in prison if convicted.
His cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, collapsed in November 2022, unable to cope with massive withdrawals from customers, panicked to learn that some of FTX's funds had been committed to risky operations by Alameda, Bankman-Fried's personal hedge fund.
His lawyer said FTX funds had been used by Alameda, but it was simply a matter of investing the money, not embezzling it.
He frequently evoked good faith to describe his client's behavior when he was at the helm of FTX.
Bankman Fried, a start-up, had to make 'hundreds of decisions a day. As a result, some things got forgotten, Cohen said.
As expected, the Bankman-Fried defense team points the finger at Caroline Ellison, his former girlfriend, who he had placed at the head of Alameda.
Bankman-Fried said that she failed to follow his suggestions to hedge against a possible slide in the cryptocurrency market.
Ellison pleaded guilty to seven charges in December and agreed to cooperate with the Manhattan federal prosecutor.
Prosecutor Rehn said on Wednesday she would testify and recount how she and the defendant stole money from FTX customers.
The trials are expected to last six weeks.