Jury hears Sam Bankman-Fried’s testimony: ‘A lot of people got hurt’

The former FTX CEO returned to the witness stand to present his testimony to a jury of 12 people as the criminal trial began to reach its final stages.

Defense attorneys representing Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried questioned the former FTX CEO before a jury for the first time as they prepared to rest their case.

According to reports from the New York courtroom on Oct. 27, Bankman-Fried denied defrauding FTX customers and taking their funds while leading the crypto exchange. The former CEO reportedly said he knew “basically nothing” about digital assets when launching crypto hedge fund Alameda Research.

“FTX declared bankruptcy,” said SBF in response to a question from his lawyer, Mark Cohen. “A lot of people got hurt.”

Related: Sam Bankman-Fried has no way to ‘outfox’ prosecutors: Scaramucci

Before Oct. 25, Bankman-Fried’s testimony in the criminal trial was uncertain. As prosecutors were preparing to finish questioning the last witness in their case, defense attorneys told Judge Lewis Kaplan they were preparing to call only a handful of witnesses, including SBF.

The trial is expected to end within a few business days, with prosecutors and defense lawyers delivering closing arguments to the jury. Bankman-Fried is scheduled to face five more criminal counts in a second trial expected to start in March 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases.

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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.