As trial begins, Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers push to exclude testimony from FTX users

The felony trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is at present underway in New York, and his authorized crew has filed motions aiming to ban testimony from customers and buyers within the change.

In separate Oct. 2 filings in United States District Court docket for the Southern District of New York, SBF’s attorneys opposed pre-trial motions from prosecutors requesting FTX prospects and buyers testify concerning how they believed the cryptocurrency change would deal with property. In addition they sought to dam the testimony of a former FTX consumer — an unnamed Ukrainian nationwide — utilizing a “reside two-way video” partly on Sixth Modification grounds.

“Choices on particular testimony from particular witnesses referring to their particular person understanding of particular statements or elements of their relationship with FTX or Mr. Bankman-Fried can’t be determined within the summary,” stated the submitting on FTX consumer testimony.

In keeping with SBF’s authorized crew, prosecutors had been making an attempt to “have it each methods” by blocking comparable witnesses proposed by the protection as to what they understood about how FTX would deal with their funds. Protection attorneys described the movement as “untimely”, arguing the topic was a matter for the jury to judge.

“[T]he Authorities seemingly desires proof concerning how prospects (and different putative victims) understood the connection they selected to enter with FTX to be admissible provided that supplied by the Authorities however excluded if supplied by the protection.”

Attorneys additionally argued permitting the Ukrainian witness’ testimony “would apparently reference hardships and particular person circumstances created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine” and “elicit the jury’s sympathy and outrage”. The Russian navy invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and plenty of areas of the nation have confronted the fixed risk of assault since that point, making worldwide journey troublesome.

“Courts routinely exclude related proof that may elicit sympathy amongst jurors unrelated to the details of the case,” stated the attorneys. “[T]he circumstances underneath which [the Ukrainian user] would testify and the rationale for his absence from the courtroom would themselves be prejudicial […] Jurors would inevitably speculate about why a Ukrainian nationwide (and no different witness) is testifying by video, and the obvious solutions would virtually actually provoke ‘sympathies having no bearing on the deserves of the case.’”

Associated: DOJ readies witnesses in Bankman-Fried trial, highlights FTX asset administration

The motions had been filed hours earlier than jury choice for Bankman-Fried’s felony trial was scheduled to start in New York Metropolis. On the time of publication, Decide Lewis Kaplan was questioning potential jurors on any conflicts they could have which forestall them from serving within the trial, anticipated to final by means of November.

Since Kaplan revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail in August, the previous FTX CEO has been largely confined to jail regardless of a number of unsuccessful makes an attempt by his attorneys for momentary launch. He’ll face two felony trials in October 2023 and March 2024, for which he has pleaded not responsible to all 12 felony fees associated to alleged fraud at FTX and Alameda Analysis.

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