‘The percentages appear to be stacked in opposition to him at this level’
All eyes are on Sam Bankman-Fried this week as the previous CEO of crypto alternate FTX goes on trial in one of many greatest monetary fraud instances of this decade on Tuesday. And it figures: That is set to be a type of instances that’s going to encourage a bunch documentaries and books (there’s one already), since crypto is so new, there was a lot drama round Bankman-Fried and his former colleagues, there’s the sheer scale of the alleged fraud, and the large quantities of cash concerned.
Nonetheless, there’s a whole lot of hypothesis about what the case might appear like. So to get to the meat of the matter, we spoke to a handful of authorized specialists on what to anticipate.
Right here’s what we all know: Bankman-Fried will go on trial for seven counts of alleged fraud and conspiracy over a six-week interval, and if sentenced, he might spend the remainder of his life in jail. It’s a monetary crimes case, and there might be a whole lot of boring documentation concerned, however we will additionally count on some spicy drama provided that a whole lot of Bankman-Fried’s former colleagues have already pleaded responsible and could also be testifying in opposition to him..
Some attorneys assume the case might drag on for for much longer than the six weeks, although. (There’s a separate trial scheduled in March 2024 for fees associated to political corruption and cash laundering.)
“Crypto is so sophisticated and so new, the prosecution must commit a whole lot of time simply to elucidate what distinguishes it from peculiar shares and bonds,” Anthony Sabino, professor of legislation at The Peter J. Tobin School of Enterprise at St. John’s College, informed crypto-news+.
After which there’s the $8 billion that Bankman-Fried is alleged to have scammed from prospects. “In a single sense, that is your Enron, your Bernie Madoff, that once-in-a-decade type of trial,” Christopher LaVigne, a associate within the litigation group at legislation agency Withers, stated. “It’s a giant deal and simply making an attempt to get a way of the sum of money that was misplaced and that’s at the moment being spent making an attempt to chase it round. It’s going to go on for a very long time to come back, identical to Bernie Madoff’s chapter [trial] went on perpetually.”
Nevertheless it’s a monetary crimes case, so there’s additionally going to be a whole lot of slower components the place the attorneys and specialists get into the nitty gritty. “There’s going to be the part of the trial the place they should introduce the transactional proof, and that’s when jurors go to sleep and it’s simply boring. It’s a doc case,” LaVigne stated. Nonetheless, it’s a routine and redundant a part of the proceedings, and must be accomplished to make a case on each side.
In response to Christine Adams, a former federal prosecutor who’s at the moment a associate at legislation agency Adams, Duerk & Kamenstein, that is basically a mixture of the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos case and the Bernie Madoff case: Each these instances had a seemingly genius founder/mastermind behind a fancy and allegedly profitable enterprise that finally turned out to be one thing a lot much less concrete and authorized.
The testimonies of Bankman-Fried’s former colleagues and staffers who entered into plea offers with the federal government are certain to be thrilling, Sabino feels. And lots of people are anticipating the testimonies of these at the moment overseeing FTX’s chapter, who will clarify what they discovered upon assuming custody of the agency, its property, and its information.
