Trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried gets underway with jury selection

The trial of disgraced crypto star Sam Bankman-Fried got underway on Tuesday (Oct 3) with a jury set to determine if he committed massive fraud by stealing billions of dollars from clients. The first day of the trial was devoted to jury selection for the case which would last for six weeks. Bankman-Fried, 31, faces seven counts including wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud, and money laundering.

In the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan told a group of 50 prospective jurors that he would ask them questions to try to seat a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates that could be fair to both prosecutors and the defence, the news agency Reuters reported.

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"The object is to select a jury of individuals who no matter what they may know or not know about these parties or about this case are willing and able to decide this case in a manner that's fair and impartial to both sides based solely on the evidence," Kaplan said.

Bankman-Fried entered the courtroom alone - without being escorted by security guards - uncuffed, and took his place alongside his lawyers.

The case

According to federal prosecutors, Bankman-Fried embezzled from FTX customers from its founding in 2019 until its November 2022 bankruptcy to prop up his hedge fund Alameda Research, buy luxury properties, and donate over $100 million to American political candidates.

A report by the news agency AFP said that the climax of the six-week trial is expected when the 31-year-old's former friends and colleagues take the stand, including his one-time romantic partner and Alameda executive Caroline Ellison, and his closest ally Gary Wang.

Ellison and Wang have also been indicted in the case and agreed to cooperate with US authorities, which may prove Bankman-Fried's undoing.

Bankman-Fried's defence

The disgraced crypto star is expected to argue that FTX's Terms of Service did not prohibit the exchange from using customer funds for its own purposes, as long as it allowed users to withdraw their money. Bankman-Fried acknowledged inadequate risk management, but he denied stealing funds.

The possible trial witnesses

The possible witnesses in the trial might include Bankman-Fried's father and brother, as well as Donald Trump's former spokesman Anthony Scaramucci.

Scaramucci, Bankman-Fried's father Joseph Bankman and his brother Gabriel Bankman-Fried were on a list of potential witnesses prosecutor Danielle Sassoon read in court during jury selection at the outset of Bankman-Fried's trial in order to see if any prospective jurors knew them.

(With inputs from agencies)

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