SBF attorneys make last minute request to enter new evidence
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys are once again vying for an angle with judge Kaplan
Artwork by Crystal Le
Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial continues in Manhattan Tuesday morning after his defense team submitted an eleventh-hour plea to bring new evidence before the court.
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys submitted a motion to the court late Monday night asking for permission to cross-examine government witness Gary Wang about how attorneys were involved in structuring and issuing loans from Alameda.
Wang, who pleaded guilty in December 2022 to four counts of fraud and conspiracy, was a founder and former executive at FTX. He testified on Friday that he received personal loans of around $200 to $300 million from Alameda, which he used to fund venture capital investments and purchase property in the Bahamas.
Because Wang told the prosecution that “a round of lawyers at the company” may have presented the loans to him in either 2019 or 2020, the defense is asking the court’s permission to pursue this line of questioning.
“The Government’s direct examination of Mr. Wang has already elicited that FTX attorneys were present and involved in structuring and executing the loans, and that Mr. Bankman-Fried was aware of their involvement,” Bankman-Fried attorneys Mark Cohen and Chrisitian Everdell wrote in their Monday evening motion. “Accordingly, the defense seeks to crossexamine Mr. Wang further about his knowledge of the lawyers’ involvement.”
Southern District of New York senior judge Lewis Kaplan is expected to rule on the motion Tuesday morning before cross-examination on Wang resumes. Kaplan has so far expressed growing frustration with the defense’s “repetitive” nature of questioning and attorneys’ tendency to make these late-night motions.
“Anything else we can usefully accomplish tonight? Am I going to be expecting another midnight filing?” Kaplan asked counsel last week.
Alameda Research’s FTX account was granted secret permission to “allow negative,” meaning it could trade even with no balance, Wang added in his testimony last week.
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