Prosecutors in the case against Sam Bankman-Fried have provided the clearest picture yet of the strategy they plan to use to jail the disgraced FTX cryptocurrency tycoon during his trial in October. .
In a 70-page court filing released Monday, prosecutors said they intend to use testimony from members of Bankman-Fried’s former inner circle, including the ex-lover and CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, 29.
Bankman-Fried, 31, had his record $250 million bond revoked on Friday after he allegedly leaked Ellison’s love letters to the New York Times in a bid, prosecutors say, to tamper with his testimony.
State said it plans to use notes Ellison took while working under him, including a note she wrote after a conversation with him titled “Things Sam Is Freaking Out About “.
Along with blockbuster testimony from Ellison and several other top FTX lieutenants, the case against the former billionaire includes a trove of financial documents, political donations and private messages from Slack.
Bankman-Fried faces more than 100 years behind bars on a slew of charges related to the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022, which came after he allegedly used client funds transferred from Alameda for luxury purchases and political donations.
Sam Bankman-Fried faces testimony from several members of his former inner circle during his trial in October
Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s ex-lover and business partner, set to testify against him
The 31-year-old faces numerous charges related to the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022
In the court filing filed Monday, prosecutors said they intended to turn members of the Bankman-Fried executive against him to argue that he was illegally and recklessly moving billions of dollars.
Among the evidence to be presented is a recording of a meeting in which Ellison told her employees at Alameda Research – the hedge fund arm of FTX – that she had been instructed by Bankman-Fried to channel the money from customer accounts.
She is expected to testify against him alongside other former top FTX lieutenants, including Gary Wang and Nishad Singh – all of whom have already pleaded guilty to the scheme and agreed to help prosecutors.
The purpose of Monday’s filing was to argue that the evidence that has been collected over the past few months should be admissible in court.
The treasure trove of documents is said to be among the largest ever assembled for a white-collar lawsuit, and it includes financial records, spreadsheets, private messages and Google documents.
Among the private messages was a 750,000-page stockpile of Slack messages from Wang’s laptop – which Bankman-Fried’s defense says should be inadmissible in court because they were only obtained and presented a while ago. three days.
His defense submitted its own brief on Monday to slam prosecutors after they “repeatedly failed” to meet deadlines for turning over evidence that would be used in the trial.
Lawyers for the 31-year-old argued that the government should be banned from using Wang’s Slack messages – or any evidence produced by prosecutors after July 1.
Other documents related to Bankman-Fried’s resignation, which came a month before he was arrested last December, were also ruled inadmissible.
“The defense does not have unlimited resources and must spend its limited time before trial preparing its defense rather than reviewing eleventh-hour productions,” the defense filing states.
Bankman-Fried had his record $250 million bond canceled on Friday after he allegedly tried to tamper with testimonials. He is pictured ahead of his bail hearing in Manhattan Federal Court on August 11, 2023
Former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang (left) and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh (right) also pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Two weeks ago, prosecutors surprised Bankman-Fried’s attorneys by demanding his incarceration, saying he violated his bail order by giving the New York Times Ellison’s private writings.
The judge in his case, Judge Lewis Kaplan, ordered him to await trial behind bars after concluding that there were “probable reasons to believe that the defendant attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice “.
The posts saw Ellison detailing his life as the head of the hedge fund arm wracked with anxiety and doubt, with a diary entry reading: ‘At the end of the day I can’t wait to get home and to turn off my phone and have a drink and get away from it all.
She is expected to testify against Bankman-Fried when her successful trial begins in October, where she may be joined by Singh and Wang.
The correspondence between the three of them is included in spreadsheets that prosecutors say they intend to present to a jury, which “tracked illicit money flows between Alameda and FTX,” the filing says.
Bankman-Fried hangs his head in this court sketch after being handcuffed on August 11, 2023
Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted by court officers to the holding cells in this courtroom sketch
At the height of his powers, Bankman-Fried commanded billions of dollars and was seen as a leader in a new generation of financiers. He used that position to pour millions into political donations, mostly to the Democratic Party.
But prosecutors said they plan to use his political donations as evidence of his alleged crimes, including a message a former FTX executive sent to a family member in November 2021 about how the donations would be used to promote cryptocurrencies in legislation, reports the New York Times.
The texts stated that the purpose of the donations was to “eliminate anti-crypto demos for pro-crypto demos and anti-crypto ads for pro-crypto ads.” Executive Ryan Salame had his home raided in April as part of an ongoing investigation, but he has not been charged with any crime.
Names mentioned for potentially testifying in the filing included Ellison, Wang, Singh and a former employee who “regularly consulted with the defendant about FTX’s fundraising efforts.”
