The former ‘King of Crypto’ Sam Bankman-Fried has insisted he acted on legal advice.
The 31-year-old entrepreneur is currently on trial in a New York federal court answering on a string of charges - including fraud, money laundering and illegal and, if convicted, faces decades in prison- in relation to allegedly stealing billions of dollars from his cryptocurrency exchange FTX to fund his other company Alameda Research, among other crimes.
His lawyer, Mark Cohen, asked Sam: "Did you take comfort from the fact that lawyers had structured the loans?"
Sam - who pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy - responded: "Yeah, of course.”
Sam - who was testifying without the jury present so Judge Lewis Kaplan could decide what part of it was admissible - went to to add that he trusted the lawyers he had on hand to make applications for accounts for corporate affairs.
He answered: "I trusted that they were proper forms."
During the cross-examination, Sam was unable to highlight any particular moment where lawyers gave the OK to his conduct.
Sam - whose former colleagues Caroline Ellison, 28, Gary Wang, 31, and others have all pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the proceedings into him - was also asked if he thought that Alameda was able to spend customer deposits held within FTX.
He said: “I wouldn’t phrase it that way, but I think the answer to the question I think you’re trying to ask is 'yes.' "
Sam - who was accused by the SEC of committing of the biggest frauds in American history - was arrested in December last year after there was an $8 billion hole in FTX’s accounting, and it was suggested he had potentially used the money for other purposes, including donating to both the Democrat and Republican parties.
