密码保护：FTX 2023.11.1……【Press】【U.S.】SBF trial day 17: FTX founder pitched as a criminal and a victim in closing arguments
Attorneys for the government and defense delivered their closing arguments in United States v Sam Bankman-Fried, the trial over FTX’s multi-billion dollar collapse where prosecutors allege that the founder built his crypto empire atop a “pyramid of lies”.
The jury will receive the case for deliberation on Nov. 2, said Senior District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan who presides over the case. Trial bystanders postulated that a verdict could be announced sooner rather than later.
The prosecutor pointed to Bankman-Fried’s evasive responses on the stand and his full knowledge of decisions at Alameda Research, the crypto trading firm he owned 90% of. Multiple accounts described the FTX founder saying “I don’t recall” some 140 times in court.
AUSA Roos said the MIT graduate favored the odds of stealing customers’ money and getting away with it, as corroborated by three-star witnesses in Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh.
Roos said that while the defendant was fluent when questioned by his own lawyer, “he was a different person” on cross-examination and “couldn’t remember a single detail” about the alleged scheme, claiming some 140 times that he could not recall specifics.
“He approached every question like up was down and down was up,” Roos added.
The prosecutor pointed to evidence presented during the government’s case, including “secret spreadsheets” prepared by Ellison with alternative balance sheets to be provided to investors that disguised the extent of use of FTX customer funds, and the establishment of a line of credit for Alameda that allowed it to do “unlimited stealing”.
Roos further argued that in order to believe Bankman-Fried’s version of events — that he was running two successful businesses but was blindsided by a downturn in the crypto markets and a smear campaign by competitor Binance — “you would have to believe that the defendant . . . who graduated from [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] . . . was actually clueless”.
Ellison, Wang and Singh, all of whom have pleaded guilty to fraud, contradicted Bankman-Fried’s narrative, Roos said, reminding the jury that “if you believe even one of these witnesses is telling the truth . . . the defendant is guilty”.
The jury will begin deliberations after both sides have finished their closing statements.
➤【美国】FTX加密货币交易所。
SBF 审判第 17 天：FTX 创始人在结案陈词中被定位为罪犯和受害者
政府和辩方律师在“Sam Bankman-Fried”一案中发表了结案陈词，检察官指控创始人在“谎言金字塔”之上建立了自己的加密货币帝国。
主持此案的高级地区法官刘易斯·A·卡普兰 (Lewis A. Kaplan) 表示，陪审团将于 11 月 2 日收到此案进行审议。庭审旁观者认为，判决宜早不宜迟。
周三，萨姆·班克曼-弗里德 (Sam Bankman-Fried) 刑事审判的律师提出结案陈词时，检察官提醒陪审员注意关键证人提供的大量证据，而辩护律师则指责政府将 FTX 创始人描绘成“怪物” 。
检方启动了诉讼程序，试图让 12 名陪审员清楚地了解他们过去四个星期坐在曼哈顿下城法庭的原因。
“大约一年前，来自世界各地的数千名通过 FTX 存钱的人开始提取资金，”美国助理检察官 Nicolas Roos 告诉法庭。
检察官指出，班克曼-弗里德在证人席上回避他对阿拉米达研究公司（他拥有 90% 股份的加密货币交易公司）的决策的充分了解，这位 FTX 创始人在法庭上说了大约 140 次“我不记得了”。
辩护律师 Mark Cohen（科恩） 将 Bankman-Fried 的结案陈词描述为两起案件的故事：一起是政府诽谤 FTX 前首席执行官，另一起是被告是其快速发展的加密货币帝国的受害者。
科恩坚称，班克曼-弗里德的行为并非欺诈，他决定偿还贷款人而不是带着数百万美元消失，这表明了他的诚意。辩护律师坚称，埃里森和其他前高管直到 FTX 彻底崩溃才发出警报，并指出政府证人作证只是为了确保认罪协议并逃脱牢狱之灾。
“萨姆已经尽力了。有些决定结果非常好。有些决定结果很糟糕。但这不是犯罪，”科恩说道。他最后指出，像埃里森这样的前公司队长未能履行职责，转而将班克曼-弗里德当作替罪羊。
检察官指出了政府案件期间提供的证据，包括埃里森准备的“秘密电子表格”，其中包含向投资者提供的替代资产负债表，掩盖了 FTX 客户资金的使用程度，以及为阿拉米达设立的信用额度允许其进行“无限制的盗窃”。
检察官进一步辩称，为了相信班克曼-弗里德对事件的说法——他经营着两家成功的企业，但却因加密货币市场的低迷和竞争对手币安的抹黑运动而措手不及——“你必须相信被告…毕业于[麻省理工学院]…却对FTX崩溃一无所知”。埃里森、王和辛格都承认了欺诈罪，他们与班克曼-弗里德的叙述相矛盾，并提醒陪审团“如果你相信这些证人中的一个说的是实话…则被告有罪”
双方都完成结案陈述后，陪审团将开始审议。