Sam Bankman-Fried said he consulted with lawyers about critical decisions around passing client money from his FTX exchange to his private trading firm Alameda, in a preview of the former tycoon’s planned defence in the criminal trial over the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire.
Taking the witness stand in Manhattan federal court on Thursday afternoon, Bankman-Fried, 31, repeatedly asserted that he had followed the counsel of former FTX lawyer Dan Friedberg and California law firm Fenwick & West when deciding on whether to retain internal documents, fund venture capital investments via loans to executives, or allow Alameda to receive FTX customer deposits.
The testimony was heard without the jury present. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the case, will decide on Friday morning what evidence can be repeated in front of jurors when they return.