Author: Bankless Team; Translation: Golden Finance xiaozou
1. SBF was betrayed by its co-founder
It's been a rough first week for SBF as government prosecutors take away some key witnesses who paint Sam as a bad guy.
On Thursday, FTX co-founder Gary Wang testified that the cryptocurrency exchange gave privileges to Alameda Research, prosecutors’ biggest allegation yet.
"We allowed Alameda to withdraw funds without limit," Wang told the court. According to Decrypt, unlike other FTX accounts, Alameda was allowed to have a negative balance, and by the time it collapsed, "Alameda had withdrawn $8 billion from the platform and drawn down $65 billion in credit lines," Wang mentioned in his testimony.
Wang testified that SBF committed wire fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud. This is not surprising, as Wang and Caroline Ellison of Alameda pleaded guilty last December to conspiracy to commit commodities, wire, and securities fraud.
2. Michael Lewis’ SBF biography brings confusion to the crypto space
Many in the crypto space are eagerly awaiting the publication of renowned financial writer Michael Lewis’ biography of SBF (titled Going Infinite), but early reviews of the book chronicling the rise and fall of SBF suggest that Lewis may have wasted the opportunity to write a book because he was too sympathetic to the young founder.
Among the many unreported details in the book is that SBF was losing $500,000 a day after Alameda was launched. We also learn why Kevin O’Leary raved about SBF after the FTX debacle — he was paid $15.7 million from the company for “20 hours of service, 20 social posts, a virtual lunch, and 50 signatures.” Not a bad deal.
3. SBF's fate lies in the hands of the jury
Before the trial began, the prosecution and defense legal teams agonized over jury selection, which included a librarian, a nurse, a special education teacher and a corrections officer.
At least three jurors recused themselves from the trial because they lost money in crypto investments.
The 12 New Yorkers chosen would have to agree by consensus that SBF should be convicted of every charge he faces. On Twitter, amateur legal analysts are already speculating about who the defense is most likely to target.
4. Paradigm head says venture capital firms were misled
Wang provided the most intimate details about SBF's misconduct, and another key witness appeared in court this week: Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang.
The elite venture capitalist testified that Paradigm was kept in the dark about many key business decisions — including FTX’s decision to use customer funds to keep Alameda Research operating.
As expected, Huang said the firm had “zeroed out” its $278 million investment in FTX.
5. SBF may lose his private jet!
While SBF was fighting for his freedom in court, he was also fighting for his private jet.
US prosecutors claim that two private jets owned by SBF may be seized in an effort to recover assets. Interestingly, the planes appear to be owned by the disgraced founder in name only and have never actually been used by him.
