The prosecution came out swinging. Oddly, Bankman-Fried’s defense didn’t.
The government is in the middle of a trial with Google, heading toward one with Amazon, and in general trying to change the way we think about monopolies. Also: Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial has begun, and it has already been eventful. All that, and an ebook debate, on the flagship podcast of the Sherman Act.
We don’t have a jury yet for the trial of the former crypto CEO, but we will soon. After that, it’s opening arguments and, if I’m lucky, our first witness.
The first day of the trial is over, but we haven’t selected a jury yet.
Bankman-Fried, who appeared with a shorter haircut and sporting a suit, wasn’t offered a plea deal because when the government raised the question of plea discussions, the defense said no, said Nicholas Roos, one of the federal prosecutors. Two prospective jurors lost money in crypto, one along with his twin brother; another potential juror’s fiancé lost in crypto as well.
There were a couple Madoff mentions, as well. We should have a jury and opening statements tomorrow.
The earlybirds are here for the Sam Bankman-Fried trial. Yes, I’m one of them.
One of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s other companies, Worldcoin, is in hot water for giving people free crypto in exchange for scanning their eyeballs into the startup’s proprietary orb.
For example, the Kenyan government appears to be on the verge of banning Worldcoin’s operations in the country “until there is a legal framework for regulation of virtual assets,” according to Reuters.
Worldcoin doesn’t appear to be slowing down its expansion efforts, though. The last press release I got from the company said that more than 1 percent of Chile’s entire population had signed up.
Michael Lewis, interviewed on his time with Sam Bankman-Fried, says:
I do think that if he had the internet, he could survive jail forever. Without having a constant stream of information to react to— I think he may go mad. If you gave Sam Bankman-Fried a choice (this is quite serious) of living in a $39 million penthouse in the Bahamas without the internet, or the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn with the internet, there’s no question in my mind he’d take the jail.