'He poured money — other people's money — into investments to make himself even richer,' the prosecutor said in opening arguments.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s entire crypto empire was a “house of cards” that was “built on a lie,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in its opening statement at the FTX founder's trial.
"He poured money – other people's money – into investments,” Rehn said. He “spent that money in all sorts of ways on himself.” The FTX app and terms of service both told customers that the money they put on the exchange was being kept for them"as if they were sitting right there" – but, in reality, Bankman-Fried diverted those funds to"smaller and secretive company" called Alameda Research and spent them on “luxuries” for himself, his friends and family members, Rehn told the court.
Still, Bankman-Fried attempted to “cover his tracks,” tweeting false reassurances to his customers, instructing his employees to set up his company’s internal communications platforms to auto delete messages between him and his employees and falsifying contracts and other documents, Rehn said.. The defense said there’s “nothing wrong with that,” and that Bankman-Fried remained a majority owner in Alameda, which is why he continued to be highly involved. He also explained that FTX needed liquidity and that Alameda Research took on the role as the market maker.The defense took a shot at the government’s key witnesses – Ellison and former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh – saying they were testifying due to cooperation agreements.
Both the defense’s and the prosecutor's opening statements came after Judge Kaplan picked a jury of 12 individuals to follow the case on Wednesday. Those jurors were selected from a group of over 80 prospective jurors that appeared in court on Tuesday and were asked a variety of questions, both work related and personal.
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