Bankman-Fried’s Legal Team Cries Foul Over Ukrainian Customer Testimony

Attorneys for Sam Bankman-Fried person written a missive to the judge, requesting the tribunal artifact a authorities witness, a Ukrainian lawsuit who “lost a important portion” of his beingness savings owed to the FTX collapse. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers judge the witness’s grounds astir hardships faced owed to the Russian penetration of Ukraine would beryllium irrelevant to the charges and highly prejudicial, arsenic it would entreaty unfairly to the jury’s sympathies.

Bankman-Fried’s Attorneys Oppose Ukrainian Witness Testimony successful FTX Legal Battle

On Oct. 2, 2023, the instrumentality steadfast Cohen & Gresser submitted a letter to the justice presiding implicit the transgression lawsuit against the erstwhile FTX brag Sam Bankman-Fried. The authorities wants to let a lawsuit witnesser from Ukraine to attest remotely and item however helium “lost a important portion” of his beingness savings owed to FTX’s demise. The lawyers importune allowing the Ukrainian witnesser to attest remotely would interruption Bankman-Fried’s Sixth Amendment close to face witnesses against him.

The lawyers further added that a lawsuit from a state nether a overseas penetration should beryllium excluded. “The projected grounds that is unsocial to this witnesser would seemingly notation hardships and idiosyncratic circumstances created by the Russian penetration of Ukraine,” Bankman-Fried’s lawyer Mark Cohen wrote. The lawyer added:

Such grounds would beryllium irrelevant to the charged crimes and would service lone to elicit the jury’s sympathy and outrage.

In another letter, Cohen argues against customer witnesses and capitalist testimony. The lawyer calls the petition premature due to the fact that the tribunal should not regularisation connected the admissibility of grounds successful the abstract without knowing the circumstantial statements astatine issue. The missive further notes that lawsuit grounds astir their subjective knowing of FTX’s custody of assets is irrelevant and capitalist grounds astir materiality is improper.

“The authorities seemingly wants grounds regarding however customers (and different putative victims) understood the narration they chose to participate with FTX to beryllium admissible lone if offered by the authorities but excluded if offered by the defense,” Cohen contends. The lawyer’s missive adds:

Having antecedently argued that it is irrelevant whether customers were ‘negligent, gullible, oregon insufficiently vigilant,’ the authorities present insists that grounds that customers’ beliefs and their knowing – whether close oregon incorrect – of alleged statements by Mr. Bankman-Fried is ‘directly relevant’ to a captious issue. The Government cannot person it some ways.

The missive urges the denial of the government’s question arsenic premature and unfounded. It argues the defence should beryllium permitted to cross-examine immoderate witnesses allowed to springiness these categories of testimony. “At a minimum, if the tribunal permits the authorities to elicit grounds of customers’ idiosyncratic understandings and beliefs, the defence indispensable beryllium allowed to probe the nature, basis, and factual accuracy of those views,” Cohen concludes.

What bash you deliberation astir the letters Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers wrote concerning circumstantial witnesses? Share your thoughts and opinions astir this taxable successful the comments conception below.