Sam Bankman-Fried on the stand is even worse than we expected
At a glance Sam Bankman-Fried gave testimony on Thursday, October 26 in an evidentiary hearing, with no jury present. Bankman-Fried seemed flustered under cross-examination, and prosecutors walked him into many seemingly troubling admissions. Judge Lewis Kaplan seems unlikely to allow defense lawyers to question Bankman-Fried in open court about advice he received from lawyers about matters such as deleting Signal chats and FTX-Alameda payment arrangements. As with almost every aspect of the defense effort so far, Sam Bankman-Fried’s first testimony in his own criminal trial went worse than even harsh critics likely expected. Bankman-Fried crumbled under determined cross-examination from prosecutors, repeatedly stumbling, mumbling, avoiding questions, taking awkward pauses, contradicting himself, frequently saying he “did not recall” seemingly key details, and receiving multiple harsh reprimands from Judge Lewis Kaplan for prevaricating or dodging questions. The sole saving g...