Sam Bankman-Fried takes witness stand at his own fraud trial

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried briefly took the witness stand at his fraud trial on Thursday (Oct 26) before his testimony in his own defence. The development occurred after prosecutors finished presenting their case which accused Bankman-Fried of stealing billions of dollars from customers.

Bankman-Fried sat on the witness stand prior tothe trial following a lunch break, Reuters reported/

He then returned to the defence table.

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The prosecution rested its case after 12 days of daily hearings at a New Yorkfederal court.

What happened in these hearings?

In these hearings, the FTX colleagues of Bankman-Fried told the jury that he directed them to divert customer funds to his hedge fund. Bankman-Fried then asked his colleagues tolie to investors and lenders, according to these testimonies.

What next?

Bankman-Fried's decision will give prosecutors the chance to cross-examine the 31-year-oldabout those claims that he told colleagues to commit crimes.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy. If convicted, he could face decades in prison.

What have prosecutors said?

Prosecutors have said Bankman-Fried used the misappropriated funds to prop up his crypto-focused hedge fund, Alameda Research, and donated more than $100 million to US political campaigns.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested and indicted on charges of conspiracy as well as wire fraud.

According to the federal US prosecutors, the ex-crypto chief committed "one of the biggest financial frauds in US history."

Also watch |Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX collapse

Three of Bankman-Fried'sformer colleagues, who have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, tailored their testimony to implicate Bankman-Fried for receiving lenient sentences.

Bankman-Fried continues to maintain that he made mistakes while running the operations of FTX. But while maintaining plausible deniability, he claims that he never intended to steal funds.

Crypto exchange FTX went bankrupt last year after its executives including Sam Bankman-Fried spent billions in customer funds they had promised to safeguard. The total money lost stands at $7.7 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

(With inputs from agencies)

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