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Regulators
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November 1, 2023

Prosecutors Say Sam Bankman-Fried Is ‘Guilty Beyond Reasonable Doubt’ in Closing Statements

By Mehron Rokhy

The prosecutors in the FTX fraud trial say that disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried is guilty beyond reasonable doubt following his testimony in court.

In new court transcripts reported by Inner City Press, Assistant Attorney of the United States Nicolas Roos addresses the jury and argues that Bankman-Fried is guilty on every single one of his charges.

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Says Roos,

“The core dispute here is whether the defendant knew that taking the money was wrong. He knew. He did it anyway. He thought he was smarter, and could walk his way out of it. Today, with you, that ends.”

According to Roos, Bankman-Fried’s testimony was filled with lies and convenient omissions.

“Did you notice how he evaded, with the layout of Alameda in an Airbnb, or why he chose the Miami Heat Arena to name? But how was he on cross-examination? He couldn’t remember a single detail. It was uncomfortable. 140 times…

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He asked for terms to be defined, terms he had already used. He tried to tell a story to exclude himself from the fraud. That was a lie. Over three days he took the stand and he lied. You’d have to ignore all the evidence.”

Roos goes on to say that believing Bankman-Fried is innocent requires a suspension of disbelief.

“You’d have to ignore the three cooperating witnesses, the spreadsheets, the lies. You’d have to believe that the defendant, from MIT, was clueless. You know it’s not true. You’ve heard his co-conspirators and saw the secret documents.

The defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on each and every one of these charges. We’ll talk about the defense arguments. Alright. What happened? What does the evidence show? He took money and crypto from customers.”

Bankman-Fried is accused of mishandling billions of dollars worth of customer money as well as defrauding investors when he allegedly masterminded a plot to move funds from the crypto exchange to its sister firm, Alameda Research, to make high-risk bets that failed.

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If convicted on his charges, Bankman-Fried faces decades multiple decades in prison.

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