Sam Bankman-Fried grilled on ‘cozy’ relationship with Bahamas officers

NEW YORK: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was grilled on Tuesday about what a U.S. prosecutor referred to as his “cozy” relationship with officers within the Bahamas, the place the cryptocurrency change was primarily based earlier than its November 2022 collapse.
Throughout Bankman-Fried’s second day of cross-examination at his fraud trial, prosecutor Danielle Sassoon sought to hyperlink favors that he did for Bahamian officers together with his determination to let FTX clients there withdraw their funds after withdrawals for others had been halted round Nov.9, 2022.
“I requested if that is what that they had needed me to do,” Bankman-Fried mentioned in Manhattan federal court docket, referring to the exemption for Bahamian customers from the withdrawal ban.
“And you probably did that, appropriate?” Sassoon requested.
“Briefly,” Bankman-Fried replied.
The 31-year-old former billionaire has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of fraud and 5 counts of conspiracy. Prosecutors have accused him of looting billions of {dollars} of buyer funds to prop up his crypto-focused Alameda Analysis hedge fund, make speculative enterprise investments and donate upwards of $100 million to U.S. political campaigns. If convicted, he may face a long time in jail.
Earlier within the trial, former FTX govt Gary Wang, who pleaded responsible to fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, testified that Bankman-Fried sought to switch funds to the Bahamas after FTX’s Nov. 11, 2022, U.S. chapter as a result of he thought authorities would possibly let him keep in cost.
Bankman-Fried testified on Tuesday he couldn’t bear in mind whether or not he provided to repay the Bahamas’ nationwide debt. Requested by Sassoon whether or not he provided the Bahamian prime minister’s son a job, Bankman-Fried conceded that he had “provided to have a chat” with the son.
The defendant additionally mentioned he didn’t bear in mind whether or not he gave the prime minister and his spouse floorside seats at a Miami Warmth Nationwide Basketball Affiliation recreation. The world had been named for FTX in a sponsorship deal.
Sassoon then confirmed Bankman-Fried a textual content message wherein he instructed co-workers the couple sat courtside at a recreation.
Sassoon at one level requested Bankman-Fried whether or not he had “cultivated a comfortable relationship” with the Bahamian authorities – a query to which the protection objected. Bankman-Fried testified that he had hung out with Bahamian officers and have become shut with “a few of them.”
The embassy of the Bahamas in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Sassoon in her cross-examination typically has requested Bankman-Fried about his public statements previous to FTX’s collapse that protecting buyer funds protected was a precedence.
Bankman-Fried has steadily mentioned he didn’t recall making particular statements, and U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan has typically chided him for not answering Sassoon’s questions straight.
Below direct examination from his attorneys, Bankman-Fried had testified that he had made “errors” that damage FTX clients and workers however denied defrauding anybody or stealing funds.