That answer ultimately lies with the jury, which was selected on Wednesday morning before lawyers for the government and then Bankman-Fried swapped two very different stories of the former crypto mogul’s sudden rise and almost instantaneous fall.
Here’s what happened on the second day of the trial, which featured pointed allegations, a friend from MIT, and an audience replete with big names, including Bankman-Fried’s professorial parents and Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.
A conscious criminal…
The prosecution’s account of the alleged crimes by Bankman-Fried, who spent most of his day in court staring into a laptop while seated between his two attorneys, featured a study in contrasts.
“One year ago, it looked like the defendant was on the top of the world,” began Thane Rehn, a prosecutor for the government, in his opening statement. The former CEO of FTX oversaw a supposedly thriving crypto exchange, jetted between international locales, and hobnobbed with celebrities like Tom Brady and Larry David. He repeatedly emphasized to customers that their money was safe and secure.
But “all of that, all of it, was built on lies,” Rehn declared to the jury. “Behind the curtains, he was not what he appeared to be.” What followed was a roughly 30-minute story that repeatedly emphasized how Bankman-Fried allegedly stole customer funds to facilitate his jet-setting lifestyle, donate millions to political candidates, and finance risky bets.
The key to his alleged scheme? Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund he also owned, argued Rehn. Using Caroline Ellison, his on-again off-again girlfriend and the CEO of Alameda, as a front, Bankman-Fried had “secret access” to customer money—both cash and crypto—the government claimed.
Moreover, Bankman-Fried allegedly directed employees to conceal the flow of money into FTX’s coffers and forged financial documents distributed to lenders and investors….