Adam Yedidia, a personal friend of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and former Alameda Research and FTX employee, and Gary Wang, FTX co-founder, will appear in court as witnesses in the trial.
A young entrepreneur who made errors while operating a crypto empire or a liar who stole and used the money of others to enrich himself? This was the tone of the first few hours of Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s six-week trial between his defense attorney and the prosecution.
The former CEO of FTX faces seven offenses related to fraud and fraud conspiracy. If convicted, he could serve more than 100 years in prison.
During the trial, SBF appeared focused on his defense strategy, continuously checking his laptop and attorneys’ paperwork. As his defense attorney made an opening statement, he turned his attention to the 12 jurors who will determine whether SBF intentionally misappropriated FTX customer funds or whether mistakes were made in good faith.
On the first day of the trial, two witnesses testified: Marc Juilliard, a French trader who lost over $100,000 worth of Bitcoin in November 2022, and Adam Yedidia, a personal acquaintance of SBF and former employee of Alameda Research and FTX.
FTX advertising campaigns, celebrity endorsements, and SBF’s tweets are among the evidence prosecutors use to prove that SBF lied to customers while defrauding them.
However, according to the defense, there is nothing improper about employing Tom Brady for an advertisement or declaring bankruptcy during a market downturn.
The third day of the trial begins at approximately 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time in a federal court in lower Manhattan, New York City, at approximately 10:00 a.m. It will feature Yedidia’s second court appearance and essential witness Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX.
