Sam Bankman-Fried grilled on 'cozy' relationship with Bahamas officials
NEW YORK: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was grilled on Tuesday (Oct 31) about what a US prosecutor called his "cozy" relationship with officials in the Bahamas, where the cryptocurrency exchange was based before its Nov 2022 collapse.During Bankman-Fried's second day of cross-examination at his fraud trial, prosecutor Danielle Sassoon sought to link favours that he did for Bahamian officials with his decision to let FTX customers there withdraw their funds after withdrawals for others had been halted around Nov 9, 2022."I asked if that's what they had wanted me to do," Bankman-Fried said in Manhattan federal court, referring to the exemption for Bahamian users from the withdrawal ban."And you did that, correct?" Sassoon asked."Briefly," Bankman-Fried replied.The 31-year-old former billionaire has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy.
Prosecutors have accused him of looting billions of dollars of customer funds to prop up his crypto-focused Alameda Research hedge fund, make speculative venture investments and donate upwards of US$100 million to US political campaigns.
If convicted, he could face decades in prison.Earlier in the trial, former FTX executive Gary Wang, who pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, testified that Bankman-Fried sought to transfer funds to the Bahamas after FTX's Nov 11, 2022, US bankruptcy because he thought authorities might let him stay in charge.Bankman-Fried testified on Tuesday he could not remember whether he offered to pay off the Bahamas' national debt.
Asked by Sassoon whether he offered the Bahamian prime minister's son a job, Bankman-Fried conceded that he had "offered to have a talk" with the son.The defendant also said he did not remember whether he gave the prime minister and his wife floorside seats at a Miami Heat National Basketball Association game.
