Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried took the stand this week to testify in his ongoing prison trial within the Southern District of New York, denying any wrongdoing between FTX and Alameda Analysis, whereas acknowledging making “large errors” throughout the corporations’ fast-paced progress.
His official testimony began on Oct. 27, after a listening to on the day past with out the jurors current. Through the listening to, Bankman-Fried struggled to reply questions raised by authorities attorneys, whereas he appeared significantly better ready the next day to face the jury.
A number of highlights of Bankman-Fried’s testimony this week embody denying directing his interior circle to make millionaire political donations in 2021, in addition to claims that FTX’s Time period of Makes use of coated transactions between Alameda and the crypto alternate. Furthermore, the previous CEO acknowledged that he had requested further hedging methods for Alameda all through 2021 and 2022, however they have been by no means carried out.
The protection is predicted to conclude Bankman-Fried’s examination on Oct. 30, adopted by the prosecution’s cross-examinations and shutting arguments from each side. Prosecutors additionally hinted a couple of potential rebuttal witness subsequent week — somebody who is named to show that the testimony of one other witness is fake or inaccurate.
Bankman-Fried could possibly be jailed for 115 years if discovered responsible of all fraud and conspiracy counts. Cointelegraph’s on-the-ground protection of his testimony is summarized under.
SBF refutes claims over political donations
Bankman-Fried denied in court docket having directing Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, and Nishad Singh, former director of engineering, to funnel thousands and thousands of {dollars} in contributions to political campaigns.
In response to information out there on OpenSecret, Singh gave $8 million to federal campaigns within the 2022 election cycle. Salame additionally donated $10 million to politicians by way of loans from Alameda Analysis.
Although Bankman-Fried denied instructing each to make political contributions, he acknowledged that lobbying in Washington, D.C. performed a key position in his efforts to push a regulatory framework for crypto companies in the USA throughout 2021.
“I got here to consider that I might impression the world.”
In response to prosecutors, Bankman-Fried used funds from prospects’ deposits on FTX to make greater than $100 million in political marketing campaign contributions forward of the 2022 midterm elections.
Bankman-Fried denied any wrongdoing throughout his testimony, asserting that FTX had greater than $1 billion in income in 2021 and that political donations have been made out of the alternate’s personal funds.
Maxine Waters is chairing the investigation into FTX pic.twitter.com/Ox6O5w4nOl
— Jordan Schachtel @ file.at the moment (@JordanSchachtel) November 17, 2022
The New York Instances take a look at
Bankman-Fried had a suggestion for workers’ communication at FTX and Alameda Analysis: The New York Instances take a look at.
Primarily based on the casual take a look at, staff mustn’t write something they would not be comfy seeing on the entrance web page of the newspaper. In response to Bankman-Fried, even innocent issues might “look fairly unhealthy out of context,” so staff ought to remember to at all times present enough context in written messages.
Bankman-Fried described the take a look at as a part of his rationalization of why greater than 200 channels on Sign had an autodelete coverage that completely deleted messages after per week.
Prosecutors used proof of the autodelete characteristic within the earlier days to recommend that any wrongdoing between the businesses was being coated up. In response to Bankman-Fried, official communications and regulatory paperwork have been dealt with by different channels, equivalent to Slack or e mail, however Sign was the selection for each day communication throughout the corporations.
Alameda’s distinctive position on FTX
Bankman-Fried offered particulars about Alameda’s billionaire line of credit score with FTX. In response to his testimony, Alameda served as FTX’s cost supplier for wire transactions whereas the alternate was unable to have its personal account.
Apart from being a cost processor, Alameda was additionally the first liquidity supplier, market maker and a shopper of FTX.
As liquidity supplier and market maker, Alameda must step in and canopy buyer losses if FTX’s danger engine failed. Throughout his testimony, Bankman-Fried offered an instance of a failure of the chance engine that resulted in Alameda overlaying thousands and thousands of {dollars} in losses in 2021.
The character of Alameda’s position within the alternate’s operations prompted customized options in FTX’s code, equivalent to the flexibility to go damaging by way of a line of credit score with out activating the chance engine. In response to Bankman-Fried, the exemption was crucial to stop Alameda’s potential liquidation, which might negatively impression the crypto markets.
As a shopper of FTX, Alameda was additionally capable of borrow funds by depositing collateral within the alternate. The phrases of use of FTX enable debtors to make use of funds for any goal, which implies Alameda might commerce with the borrowed funds.
Alameda’s line of credit score with FTX grew together with the crypto business throughout the bull market.
Alameda fails to hedge
Bankman-Fried mentioned hedging methods with Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Analysis, in 2021 and 2022 whereas looking for to protect the buying and selling platform from a potential market downturn.
In response to his testimony, Bankman-Fried requested Ellison to hedge $2 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) towards a potential worth decline in 2021. The technique was by no means carried out, he informed jurors.
Notes of Ellison shared as proof by prosecutors reveal that Bankman-Fried was “freaking out” about hedging in early 2022. The protection used the proof as an example that hedging was one in every of Bankman-Fried’s highest issues and mentioned with Ellison continuously.
With out acceptable hedging in place, Alameda was considerably harmed by the Terra ecosystem collapse and decline in crypto costs. In September 2022, Bankman-Fried discovered the legal responsibility between the businesses had grown from $2 billion a 12 months earlier than to over $8 billion.
“I used to be very stunned,” he claimed in court docket, stating that he believed Alameda’s belongings outweighed its liabilities by almost $10 billion.
Clawback provision in Phrases of Use
In response to Bankman-Fried, FTX’s phrases of use embody a clawback provision that may socialize losses amongst prospects utilizing margin commerce and futures contracts within the occasion that the alternate’s danger engine fails.
The doc offered in court docket states that:
“[…] your account stability could also be topic to clawback because of losses suffered by different customers.”
If FTX couldn’t cowl losses associated to identify margins and futures, damages could be shared amongst all prospects. Protection attorneys used the availability to argue that prospects buying and selling on FTX have been conscious of the dangers concerned.
