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Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, anticipates a challenging criminal trial for Sam Bankman-Fried, predicting that experienced prosecutors will find weaknesses in his defense. In an Oct. 25 interview on CNBC’s Last Call, Scaramucci expressed his belief that the United States Department of Justice prosecutors will easily dismantle Bankman-Fried’s defense, potentially adding years to his sentence. “He’s gonna get skinned alive ; there’s no way to escape. He thinks he’s going to outfox the prosecutors, but they’re very, very well experienced with this stuff.” Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital Scaramucci’s comments come amid growing scrutiny of Bankman-Fried, who was once viewed as a philanthropic figure in the crypto industry. “A year ago, he was considered a congenial nerd who planned to give all his money away,” Scaramucci said. However, recent testimonies from former executives at FT...

At a glance The Defense team for Sam Bankman-Fried has repeatedly walked into hilarious mistakes . Judge Lewis Kaplan has constantly reprimanded Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell for wasting time . Is there a larger strategy behind what seems like mere ineptitude? Sam Bankman-Fried’s white-shoe lawyers have a very hard job. They also seem to be doing it quite poorly. Indeed, at their lowest moments, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell are like the Laurel and Hardy of bad lawyering. In the third week of trial, Bankman-Fried’s defense team has yet to establish any real counter-narrative to the prosecution’s case — but worse, they’ve made repeated, serio US missteps that actually seemed more likely to harm SBF in the eyes of the jury than to help him . One sterling example came on Thursday, October 12, as Cohen was cross-examining former BlockFi CEO Zac Prince about the due diligence process at the now-collapsed crypto lender. Cohen and Prince were reviewing a report f...

Federal prosecutors told jurors that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) lied to the world about FTX’s finances but confided in Ellison and his inner circle, while defense attorneys moved to shift the blame on Alameda’s former CEO and Bitcoin volatility during opening statements on trial day 2. On day 1 of the voir dire, eight prospective jurors cited the 60 Minutes interview with author Michael Lewis. A handful referenced Bernie Madoff and one juror’s company lost money to FTX/Alameda. 18 jurors -12 primary and 6 alternates, were assigned from a pool of 50 potential candidates on Oct. 4, day 2 of the trial, according to InnerCityPress. “It’s our boys big day,” said pharma bro Martin Shkreli as he live-streamed his commute to SBF’s trial in lower Manhattan just as Judge Kaplan finalized jury selection around 11:30 am ET. Shkreli once told Terraform founder Do Kwon that “jail isn’t that bad”, on a podcast hours before FTX crashed on November 11, 2022. Kwon is now an international f...

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is scrutinizing the advertising strategy of the now-bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX. This scrutiny comes in light of advertisements featuring celebrities Larry David and Tom Brady. According to the DOJ, it did not clearly demarcate between the global platform and its US subsidiary, FTX.US. FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, finds himself at the center of a legal maelstrom, vehemently disputing the evidence the government plans to present in the upcoming trial scheduled for Oct. 2. The array of charges against him includes wire fraud, with Bankman-Fried denying any wrongdoing and accusing the DOJ of indirectly introducing allegations of corruption and campaign finance violations. Bankman-Fried’s legal representatives argue for a clear separation of the US operations from the current allegations, which they claim are primarily focused on the international business segment. However, the government contends that the distinction is not as ...

Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s embattled founder, is reportedly planning to hire seven expert witnesses for his upcoming fraud trial at rates up to $1,200 per hour. According to a report dated Aug. 31, among the experts being considered is Bradley Smith, a law professor at Capital University Law School and a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission. Smith has confirmed in a court filing that he is being compensated at a rate of $1,200 per hour. Other potential witnesses could charge between $400 and $1,100 per hour for their expertise. These witnesses would provide insights into campaign finance laws, scrutinize the operations of FTX favorably, and delve into its terms and conditions. Despite Bankman-Fried’s previous claim of having only $100,000 left in his bank account following the collapse of FTX, he is funding his legal defense with $10 million of company funds that he had earlier gifted to his father.  Lawyers handling the FTX bankruptcy case have...

2022 was an eventful year for the crypto world but not everyone came on top of it, we look at some of the biggest winners and losers from 2022. 2022 was supposed to be the year crypto went mainstream, with a significant chunk of traditional venture capital firms betting heavily on the ecosystem in 2021. However, with one disaster after another, 2022 turned out to be a catastrophic year for the nascent crypto ecosystem. Some of the biggest names touted as pivotal to taking the crypto ecosystem forward turned out to be the orchestrators of its worst year in recent memory. That said, quite a few protagonists rose to the occasion. These winners proved that crypto is not just about a few select individuals and companies but a vibrant ecosystem that can survive significant setbacks. Let’s start with some of the biggest winners of the crypto ecosystem in 2022. The list includes individuals, companies and anonymous groups working for the betterment of the industry. The winners In a year that ...