Prosecutors from the US Division of Justice might be allowed to floor the main points of Sam Bankman-Fried’s political donations because the proof is straight related to his fraud costs, dominated U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan.
The choice was a part of a sequence of rulings made by Kaplan in a 16-page pretrial order on Sept. 26, the place he cleared up which proof could be admissible in court docket in the course of the FTX founders’ fraud trial, at the moment scheduled to start on Oct. 3.
Federal prosecutors initially charged Bankman-Fried with conspiring to interrupt United States marketing campaign finance legal guidelines, in addition to seven different fraud and conspiracy costs — nonetheless, later dropped the costs as a part of an extradition settlement with the Bahamas.
“Proof that the defendant spent FTX buyer funds on political contributions is direct proof of the wire fraud scheme as a result of it’s related to establishing the defendant’s motive and allegedly fraudulent intent.”
Along with permitting dialogue of Bankman-Fried’s marketing campaign donations, Kaplan additionally permitted the prosecution’s movement to carry ahead proof that particulars Bankman-Fried’s alleged function within the creation of the FTX Token (FTT), and the methods through which he allegedly directed Alameda Analysis and its then-CEO Caroline Ellison to control the value of the token.
“The alleged manipulation of the cryptocurrency tokens, which resulted in an alleged manipulation of Alameda’s steadiness sheet, was an act ‘completed in furtherance of the alleged conspiracy’ and subsequently is taken into account ‘a part of the very act charged,’” wrote Kaplan.
“Furthermore, defendant’s alleged directive to Ms. Ellison to control the value of FTT is direct proof of their “relationship of mutual belief.” The probative worth of this proof outweighs any danger of unfair prejudice. It’s admissible,” Kaplan concluded.
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Whereas Kaplan permitted many submissions of proof for the DOJ, he additionally permitted Bankman-Fried’s attorneys to query authorities witnesses about their leisure drug use, so long as they supplied prior discover to the court docket.
Authorities witnesses embody Caroline Ellison, former FTX engineer Nishad Singh and FTX co-founder Gary Wang.
Kaplan additionally denied the DoJ’s motions to dam the protection from cross-examining witnesses on sure “privileged” points. Moreover, he dominated that Bankman-Fried wouldn’t have the ability to focus on any particulars of his pre-trial detention, household background, wealth, or age earlier than a jury.
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