The defense botched the cross examination of Caroline Ellison.
And his “very valuable” hair, too.
Bankman-Fried thought Alameda’s brand wasn’t as good as FTX’s — so he put his sometime-lover in charge of it.
Before they collapsed, FTX and Alameda Research “massed a roster of portfolio companies that included major names in the industry, such as stablecoin providers Circle and Paxos, blockchain developer Aptos Labs and crypto bank Anchorage Digital,” Bloomberg writes.
But venture funding for the crypto world has plunged; selling those stakes could further depress startup valuations.
“If I were a juror, I would rather hear my story than either defense or prosecution,” Lewis tells Andrew Chow at Time. Also:
I want to ask about some details that appeared in various charging documents and complaints against Sam but are featured less prominently or not at all in your book. One is that Bankman-Fried allegedly bribed Chinese officials to release money from a frozen Alameda account.
I know too much about that, and it seemed like a distraction.
Gary Wang supervised the code that gave Alameda special privileges at FTX. But it’s hard to conclude anyone but Sam Bankman-Fried gave the orders.
Two of Bankman-Fried’s MIT roommates make a damning case for the prosecution.
I expect to hear a lot more about that expensive Bahamas penthouse during today’s hearings in the case of the former FTX CEO, and possibly some fireworks on the cross, as Adam Yedidia is immunized from prosecution.