1 year ago
All of FTX founder’s Sam Bankman-Fried’s projected witnesses should beryllium disqualified from testifying due to the fact that their disclosure filings are insufficient, their acquisition whitethorn beryllium misleading oregon their planned grounds whitethorn not beryllium relevant, prosecutors said successful a precocious Monday filing.
Bankman-Fried’s team, for their part, wants to exclude a fiscal investigation adept projected by the Department of Justice due to the fact that his projected grounds whitethorn not beryllium allowed nether the rules. The filings, portion of the alleged Daubert motions owed Monday, laid retired the 2 teams’ views connected wherefore their absorption should not beryllium capable to telephone definite witnesses to the basal erstwhile Bankman-Fried goes connected trial for assorted fraud and conspiracy charges successful a small implicit a month.
The DOJ moved to discount each 7 of the adept witnesses projected by Bankman-Fried’s team, saying that immoderate of the disclosures they filed did not item their opinions, portion others “are inappropriate subjects for adept testimony” oregon perchance confusing for a imaginable jury.
The witnesses are Lawrence Akka, a British barrister, Thomas Bishop and Joseph Pimbley, who are with antithetic consulting firms, Brian Kim, a information analytics and forensics expert, Bradley Smith, a instrumentality prof astatine Capital University Law School and Andrew Di Wu, an adjunct prof astatine the University of Michigan.
Akka's grounds should beryllium barred arsenic his projected sentiment would talk to the explanation of a "trust" nether law, the DOJ said, which is the judge's role. Furthermore, his explanation seemed constricted to a azygous example, it added.
Neither Kim nor Bishop's disclosures stock details astir what they would really attest astir beyond wide topics, which isn't allowed, the filing went connected to add.
Smith's grounds isn't needed due to the fact that the DOJ is not bringing a run election-specific charge, connected which the prof would person spoken about, the prosecutors' filing said. Smith should besides beryllium barred due to the fact that similar Akka, his projected grounds would effort to explicate the instrumentality to the jury.
Pimbley’s projected grounds arsenic an adept who tin talk to FTX’s codification is “unnecessary,” the DOJ said.
“At trial, the Government volition telephone astatine slightest 2 witnesses – Gary Wang and Nishad Singh – who were progressive successful penning FTX’s code. They are laic witnesses who are competent to attest astir the code, and applicable and admissible questions the suspect has astir the codification whitethorn beryllium enactment to these witnesses during cross-examination,” the DOJ filing said. “There is nary request for a abstracted ‘expert’ witnesser to attest connected specified matters, particularly successful airy of the information that specified grounds would duplicate the grounds of information witnesses.”
Another projected witness, Peter Vinella, is being presented arsenic a fiscal services manufacture adept but does not look to person “sufficient acquisition oregon expertise” successful the crypto industry, the filing said. Wu, a University of Michigan professor, would likewise attest astir blockchains and the cryptocurrency manufacture successful general, but this “testimony is not applicable to the contested issues astatine trial,” the DOJ said.
Some of Wu’s planned grounds – for example, detailing communal practices astir lending successful crypto – is “improper,” the filing added.
Some of the witnesses disclosed their fees for providing testimony, saying they were being compensated for their clip and services connected an hourly rate. Akka is billing island pounds 800 per hr (~$1,010 U.S.), Bishop is billing $400 per hour, Kim is billing $650 per hour, Pimbley is charging $720 per hour, Smith is billing $1,200 per hr and Wu is billing $650 per hour. Vinella's disclosure said his fees were not contingent connected the result of the case, but did not specify what those fees were.
Peter Easton, an accountancy prof astatine the University of Notre Dame, is simply a projected witnesser for the prosecution who should beryllium barred from testifying due to the fact that helium did not supply a ground for his grounds and his planned opinions whitethorn not beryllium permissible, the defence squad said successful its ain filing.
"Many of Professor Easton’s 'opinions' simply narrate the Government’s allegations with nary evident adept investigation to purportedly assistance the jury," the filing said.
The filing pointed to projected grounds addressing FTX's interior accounting and deposit system, however FTX funds were allegedly commingled with Alameda funds and different details tied to the question of FTX and FTX customers' money.
"The Government should beryllium required to beryllium its factual communicative by presenting admissible documentary grounds and grounds from percipient witnesses, not by substituting successful an adept witnesser with nary first-hand cognition of the facts astatine contented and nary proffered adept analyses to assistance the jury’s understanding," the filing said.
Easton is tied to The Brattle Group, a consulting firm, which is charging $1,175 per hr for his testimony.
The 2 teams of lawyers volition conscionable virtually connected Wednesday astatine 1:00 p.m. to discuss the defence team’s motions to person Bankman-Fried allowed retired of jailhouse much often to hole his defence and to barroom the prosecution from utilizing immoderate find shared aft July 1, arsenic good arsenic his planned “advice-of-counsel” defense.
Ahead of this hearing, defence lawyer Christian Everdell filed different letter connected Monday complaining that the DOJ produced 3.7 cardinal pages of documents earlier connected Monday, connected apical of different 4 cardinal produced past Thursday.
Edited by Parikshit Mishra.
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