Sam Bankman-Fried has been on trial on costs of fraud and cash laundering for simply over 4 weeks, and the case seems prefer it’s lastly drawing to an in depth. The prosecution started its closing statements on Wednesday.
Assistant U.S. legal professional Nicolas Roos stood in entrance of jurors from 10 a.m. ET till the courtroom broke for lunch round 1 p.m., reiterating the prosecution’s case: Bankman-Fried lied, made false guarantees and is accountable for billions of {dollars} misplaced for 1000’s of buyers on FTX. And on high of that, Bankman-Fried had many alternatives to come back clear however didn’t.
At one particularly dramatic second, Roos pointed on the defendant and mentioned, “Who’s accountable? This man: Samuel Bankman-Fried.” The previous CEO of FTX didn’t look again, however he tilted his head barely.
The prosecutor emphasised the way it was incorrect of FTX to make use of prospects’ funds with out their information or approval. “It was a common view: Buyer funds belong to prospects and may’t be used,” Roos mentioned, including that even FTX’s phrases of service acknowledged that customers’ deposits belonged to customers.
Based on the proof, there was a “big distinction between what FTX mentioned it had for purchasers versus what it truly had” and the way billions of {dollars} have been lacking, Roos mentioned. “This isn’t about sophisticated crypto [terms]. It’s about deception. It’s about lies. It’s about stealing, greed.”