Here’s How Sam Bankman-Fried’s High-Stakes Trial Could Play Out

Nik De, CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, discusses the importance of jury selection in the trial and how many years Sam Bankman-Fried may face if found guilty.

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The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is set to begin on October 3. The 31-year-old is accused of committing wire fraud and conspiracy to commit other types of fraud, in relation to the dramatic collapse of his crypto empire last year, which led to billions in losses. Nik De, CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, discusses the importance of jury selection, the potential testimony of key witnesses, and how many years Bankman-Fried may face if he is found guilty.

Show highlights:

Why SBF's lawyers keep requesting the FTX founder be released
Why the jury selection is so important and how long it could take
Why the DOJ opposed the proposed questions for the jury
Why the Judge agreed with the DOJ in blocking some of the witnesses proposed by the defense team
How the defense team may try to discredit some of the proposed witnesses
Whether the argument of SBF receiving “poor legal advice” holds any ground
What role the political donations made by SBF may play in the trial
How many years SBF could face if he were to be found guilty

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Guest |

Nik De, CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation

Previous appearances on Unchained:

How SEC Chair Gary Gensler's Views on Crypto Have Changed Since His MIT Days

Why the Ooki DAO Case Could Hurt Participation in DAOs

Links |

Previous coverage from Unchained on Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX:

Why FTX Might Try to Claw Back Funds From Retail Customers

The Chopping Block: Was FTX a Scam From the Very Beginning?

How Much Prison Time Is FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Facing?

Why the Legal Process for FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried Could Take Years

The Chopping Block: SBF Wants to Win in the Court of Public Opinion. Will He?

Jesse Powell and Kevin Zhou on How FTX and Alameda Lost $10 Billion

Did the Bahamian Government Direct SBF and Gary Wang to Hack FTX?

The Chopping Block: Why Lenders Didn’t Liquidate Alameda When It Was Underwater

Erik Voorhees and Cobie on Why FTX Loaned Out Customers’ Assets

The Chopping Block: FTX: The Biggest Collapse in the History of Crypto?

Sam Bankman-Fried on How to Prevent the Next Terra and 3AC

SBF’s defense team motions:

Judge Denies Sam Bankman-Fried’s Request for Temporary Release

U.S. Department of Justice Opposes Sam Bankman-Fried's Latest Move for 'Temporary Release'

Sam Bankman-Fried Can Use an 'Air-Gapped' Laptop in Court, Judge Rules

Judge Blocks Sam Bankman-Fried's Proposed Witnesses From Testifying

Key witnesses:

SBF’s Expert Witnesses Barred From Testifying at Trial

Who is Caroline Ellison, a key witness set to testify against Sam Bankman-Fried?

All of Sam Bankman-Fried's Proposed Expert Witnesses Should Be Barred From Testifying: DOJ

Sam Bankman-Fried is being sent to jail after a judge revoked his bail over alleged witness tampering

Jury selection:

Sam Bankman-Fried Can Ask DOJ Witnesses About Drug Use

Sam Bankman-Fried’s political donations can be surfaced in trial, rules judge

Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.

HOST

Laura Shin

Laura Shin is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (Public Affairs, 2022). Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 15 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum.

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors from Stanford University and has a master of arts from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She lives in New York City.