By Darren Parkin
The US trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has had a troublesome start with the presiding judge struggling to appoint jurors who haven’t lost money in crypto.
In its second day today at the Manhattan federal court, Judge Lewis Kaplan was still sifting through 50 prospective jurors in a bid to whittle their number down to 12.
However, in the early stages of the process, the trial offered up an unexpected insight into how far reaching the FTX collapse had been.
Five of the potential jurors from the initial batch detailed how they or someone close to them had been exposed to crypto losses.
One told the judge how her employer had invested heavily – and lost heavily – in FTX and sister company hedge fund Alameda Research.
Another also responded to the bench’s questions by saying failed cryptocurrency investments had financially ruined his twin brother, adding “to be perfectly honest I don’t know if I could separate that”.
The unexpected reaction from the jury selection process will inevitably lead to an extension of the highly-anticipated six-week trial in which 31-year-old Bankman-Fried will defend himself against a slew of charges relating to the alleged embezzlement of billions of dollars belonging to FTX users.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight fraud charges after being arrested at his home in the Bahamas on December 12 prior to being extradited to the US on December 21 in the wake of the biggest crypto exchange collapse in US history.
The fallout accelerated a significant and widespread decline in the value of digital assets, leaving many investors, traders and business severely in the red.
He faces seven counts – even one from the Manhattan US attorney’s office that accuses him of handing out vast sums of customer funds to ‘crypto friendly’ political candidates.
Another indictment saw Bankman-Fried jailed in August after being accused of attempting to intimidate witnesses ahead of this week’s trial.
Prosecutors said they had evidence Bankman-Fried was attempting to interfere with the trial process by intimidating a person or persons expected to testify against him.
It is understood the evidence related to Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison who was also ‘romantically involved’ with Bankman-Fried.
An allegation suggested Bankman-Fried attempted to leak love letters he received from the 29-year-old to the New York Times.
A 70-page prosecution document with statements and memos from Ellison will form key parts of the case against the crypto entrepreneur.
