In what could be the world's most obvious admission and largest combined understatement ever, Sam Bankman-Fried took to the stand to testify in his own trial on Friday, admitting to the court making “a number of larger mistakes”.
While testifying on Friday, Financial Times reported that Bankman-Fried said he thought him and his team, “might be able to build the best product on the market” and “move the [cryptocurrency] ecosystem forward” by forming FTX.
At first he said there was “a ton of excitement, a ton of demand” for crypto, but that “the banks weren’t involved, the brokers were not involved”. FTX “turned out basically the opposite” of his goals of being the best product on the market, he said, noting "a lot of people got hurt".
According to FT, he also added: “I made a number of small mistakes and a number of larger mistakes,” stating that “by far the biggest mistake was that we did not have a dedicated risk management team . . . and there were significant oversights”.
When he founded Alameda in 2017, he admitted to having "absolutely no idea" how crypto worked, but thought “there might be really, really large arbitrage opportunities available”.
Cross-examination is set for late in the day Friday. Following the testimony, we wouldn't be surprised if SBF's team advises him on pleading out and taking a deal.
As we noted days ago, generally when the accused wind up taking the stand in their own defense, it can be seen as a last minute "hail mary" by the defense. And recall, just days ago we published this take from The Epoch Times explaining why the trial doesn't seem to be going SBF's way so far.
The paper wrote that the trial "...has thus far strongly supported the prosecution’s charges of securities fraud, analysts say; meanwhile, any questions regarding his massive political donations have been put off for another day."
Since its start on Oct. 3, the trial has featured compelling testimony from former colleagues FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, both of whom pointed the finger at Mr. Bankman-Fried—also known by his initials, SBF—as the ringmaster of one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. The defense has struggled to make its case, although Mr. Bankman-Fried’s attorneys may still have cards to play, The Epoch Times wrote.
“As of now, it’s not going well for the defense,” Braden Perry, a former federal enforcement attorney who's currently a partner at Kennyhertz Perry, told The Epoch Times. “Both Ellison and Wang have testified that SBF directed them to commit the crimes.”
We're not sure SBF's admissions today are going to make things any better...
