SBF Trial Update With Tiffany Fong! Not Looking Good For Sam

I kind of think that Sam taking the Stand is his only shot at sort of Getting his narrative out there and Maybe one person might sort of believe That or not they don't actually even Have to believe him they just have to Not think that he's guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt so there really just Does have to be that Tiny Seed of doubt The trial of Sam bankman freed is Reaching boiling point the prosecution Has presented its case and now s spf's Defense team must try to convince the Jury of his innocent However they face an uphill battle and Are not being helped by their client Over the last few weeks a number of Witnesses with close ties to SBF have Given damning testimonies against him Both his FTX co-founder and childhood Friend Gary Wong along with former FTX Chief engineer nishad Singh portrayed s SPF as the man ultimately responsible For the defrauding of ftxs users and Investors and of course the there was Caroline Ellison the former co-ceo of Alamaa research and S spf's one-time Girlfriend her testimony was the most Highly anticipated of all until it Emerged that SBF himself was due to take The stand now the ins and outs of what's Been going on under the watchful gaze of Judge Lewis a Kaplan at the Manhattan District Court have been splashed all

Over the world's media for the last few Weeks however one person has seen event Unfold up close and in real time Tiffany Fong the crypto reporter who also got to Spend a lot of time with s SPF while he Was under house arrest in California Tiffany has been to every day of the Trial so far and has been keeping the World updated as to what's been Happening there via her social media Channels she has a unique perspective on What's been going on and recently gave Up some time on one of her few days off To speak to me from New York as you can Imagine I had a lot of questions to ask Her what what it's been like to be kind Of that close to the Action uh this has been a a thrilling Ride uh I will say that it has not been Going so well for Sam bakman Freed at All this entire thing has not been going Well for him whatsoever and that seems To be the general consensus even when I'm leaving Court sometimes we all just Look at each other and just are thinking This seem this feels like suicide for Sam I mean he's just begun testifying And um a lot of us have just left the Courtroom being like I don't know if This is a good idea for him um but Throughout all of this even before Sam Decided to testify the prosecution's Been very masterful in their case and They're all very confident and uh just

Zooming out they just have a much easier Case to begin with it looks as though The facts are on their side obviously 8.6 billion dollars or so are missing so They just have a very straightforward Forward easy to understand streamlined Argument um when they're presenting Their case they're essentially saying Look billions of dollars are missing This man essentially defrauded customers And investors by stealing billions of Dollars of customer funds to enrich his Himself by buying real estate making Political donations uh making Venture Capital Investments Etc um and it just Kind of looks like an easy exhibit a b And c of this man committed fraud Whereas the defenses case is much more Convoluted much more Technical and um They just overall don't have as easy or Streamlined a narrative they're Basically saying look FTX was sort of a Startup and Sam was always acting in Good faith and thought that every Decision he made was reasonable at the Time but um it's basically like trying To build a plane while flying it which Is an analogy that they actually used in Their opening statement um and then they Have to get into sort of technical Jargon they have to explain hey well FTX Had a margin trading facility and um Sam Thought he was using the amount of of uh Using funds that were those who were

Coming from those who agreed to margin Trading Etc so overall they're having to Sort of explain some minutia and Technical jargon that might sort of fly Over the jury's head so just even just To start with it um I think St Sam Already sort of started off in a losing Position yeah yeah and and of course the The defense case is is resting as I Understand it on this idea of of advice Of council like Sam you know didn't Realized that he was doing wrong he was Badly advised by his lawyers and Actually you know he's a he's a good guy Who just messed up is is that basically The angle that they're that they're Trying to that they're trying to pull Well so it's sounded like Sam wanted to Present that as one of his arguments but Apparently to use the advice of council Defense apparently that's something That's official and has to be presented Before the case even begins According to Some lawyers that I've spoken with I'm Not actually a lawyer so Sam um when he Decided to testify wanted to use sort of A Modified advice of counsel uh argument Which the prosecution took issue with so Um we actually had sort of a mock Hearing the day before s actually Officially testified before the jury Where Sam sort of presented his argument And sounded like he did want to blame a

Lot of this on his General counil people Like Dan Friedberg for example but it Sounds as though the judge doesn't Necessarily want him to present it that Way because the judge basically made the Argument hey your account your um Council may have given you the sign off On for example things like loans or they Might have helped you with paperwork but If your Council wasn't aware that you Were illegally stealing customer funds Then you didn't really get their you Know go ahead for the illegal things That you did just because they helped You out with other aspects of the Business doesn't mean that they were Fully aware of customer like the Misappropriation of customer funds for Example so it sounds like the judge has Sort of stricken that so so far in Sam's Testimony he hasn't actually brought up The advice of council defense yet his Testimony is continuing on tomorrow Though so we'll see if it actually comes Up but I don't believe he's able to Actually use it now right right and do You think because you you mentioned Tiffany this um this meeting sort of Behind closed doors as it were without The jury there and I think you know We've we've seen some sort of Transcripts from that um Sam doing his Usual thing of answering a question you Know taking about half an hour to do so

And you know just sort of in that kind Of wandering nonsensical style of his so I did sort of wonder about that like I Mean that's that doesn't look good that You know you think that doesn't really Help his case do you think at all like Could there be because I guess what They've got what the prosecution have to Do as I understand it is to is to uh you Know get a unanimous decision on every Count from each member of the jury so if They're able to sort of seow at least Some sort of doubt in even just one Juror's mind then you know they could be Looking at at shaving perhaps a Significant amount of time off his Sentence I think probably getting him Off altogether is is maybe a bit of a Long shot but do you think like could This be could could Sam taking the stand Could this be like you know an attempt To sort of do that to say to the jury It's like look this guy can't even Answer a question properly can you do You really think he's The Mastermind of This billion dollar Fraud um well that's funny well actually I actually do think that it is at this Point his only shot at maybe even Possibly sewing a Tiny Seed of doubt in At least one juror's mind I'm not saying That that is likely to happen but I will Say that the prosecution did such a Great job that I personally felt pretty

Convinced that the jury would Unanimously find him guilty at that Point after watching the prosecution's Entire case so I kind of think that Sam Taking the stand is his only shot at Sort of getting his narrative out there And maybe one person might sort of Believe that or not they don't actually Even have to believe him they just have To not think that he's guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt so there really just Does have to be that Tiny Seed of Doubt So I I actually thought that Sam's Testimony started off moderately strong I wouldn't really say strong but it Started off fine because he initially Was able to give his sort of excuses and Rebuttal to a lot of the points that Came up throughout the prosecution's Case so he was able to for example Explain hey you know they gave me a lot Of for or they gave me a lot of Crap for the um Miami Heat deal but he Was able to explain look that deal was Meant to last over 19 years and he sort Of explained his reasoning for you know The Miami Heat deal and for the way he Dressed you know for a lot of things That weren't necessarily directly Related to the case but was able to give Some of his reasoning to where he Doesn't look like such an evil super Villain um he also said that his intent Was obviously never to hurt customers

But ultimately it ended up that way but That he does not believe he ever Intentionally defrauded anyone he has Maintained that he believed that um he Was just using the customer funds who Had agreed to margin trading and felt That he was using the collateral of Those funds and that you know he's Claiming that Alam was just another Customer of FTX and other customers were Able to borrow from um those who agreed To margin Trader to to Marg and trading So he he's painting the he painted the Picture in a much more innocent light And tried to show that um his intent Wasn't nefarious so I thought it started Off somewhat well just because prior to That we hadn't heard his side of the Story um so that might have helped sew Maybe a seed of doubt in some of the Jurors Minds um his testimony then sort Of progressed into him giving his Retelling of some of the key points in Other witness testimonies and sort of His his retelling of some conversations That happened between him and Gary Wong NAD Singh Adam yud Didia and Caroline Ellison And to me that's when I started to feel A little bit more doubtful of Sam Because all of those testimonies of the Other insiders felt very credible at the Time and for Sam to sort of be retelling Them but saying that they sort of kind

Of insinuating that they misunderstood Him or that they're maybe lying in their Testimonies it kind of became a he said She said when at the end of the day I Think that if anyone has to choose Between if Sam is lying or anyone else Is lying I think that the jury is more Like to believe that Sam is the one Who's lying in those retellings so That's where I thought it became a Little bit more dicey for him but you Know what um prior to this we only had The prosecutions narrative now we have Two narratives so maybe maybe one of the Jurors might think they're I don't know S maybe one juror will think Sam might Be telling the truth so it's is it's is Hail Mary yes Yes cousin Barry coin buo one two here We go hello hello Barry here guys cousin Here to tell you about crypto deals by The Dozen the coin Bureau deals page is The place to go that's where all the Mad Discounts are put on show what's that You think I'm full of crap you trying to Say this ge I Can't Rap okay then try This one on for size I'm going to hit You with the deals page big prize yes Exchange sign up bonuses of up to 40K oh Yes I'll have a bit of that I hear you Say you're welcome yes it's my pleasure But wait there's even more treasure here There's trading feed discounts too so

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The Mastermind behind all the wrongdoing That took place although she too was a Part of that wrongdoing according to her Testimony SPF quote directed me to Commit those crimes she also confirmed That the use of FTX customer funds by Alamida had been going on for longer Than many imagined since at least 2021 When they were spent on buying back $2 Billion of Ft X shares from binance the Following day she detailed the alleged Bribing of Chinese officials by S SPF in An attempt to unfreeze $1 billion worth Of alam's assets s SPF is due to stand Trial on that and other charges next Year here's what Tiffany had to say About Caroline's time on the stand and About another witness whose testimony May well have damaged s spf's case even More everyone was also expecting them to Go particularly hard on um Caroline Ellison because throughout this I think That Sam has sort of tried to cast the Most blame in his you know interviews on Caroline Ellison because he says hey I Wasn't the CEO of alam at the time Caroline Ellison was um and you know it Looks like Caroline Ellison sort of Failed to hedge and um FTX only Collapsed because Alam collapsed and um FTX was just sort of collateral damage From that and um so without explicitly Saying it's Caroline's fault he's sort Of implicitly been blaming things on

Caroline so we were all expecting the Cross-examination of Caroline Ellison to Be pretty explosive and they didn't Really land anything in the Cross-examination I think that one point That they got Caroline to sort of admit To was that they got her to admit that Apparently in some of her early Conversations with prosecutors she did Tell them that apparently Sam might not Have been aware that some Legacy Customers of FTX were still iring money To elamer research in 2022 because at That point FTX already had bank accounts So yeah that might give Sam a bit of an Excuse or something to hinge on to say Oh I didn't know that some some number Of billions of dollars actually ended up At Alam research in 2022 but it Certainly still doesn't account for the Entirety of what happened so I mean it I Think that was the one point they scored In Carolines and that's not even I mean That's not even an exonerating point So overall they haven't been doing too Well wow okay and because I mean um I Think well because Caroline I think was Seen as this as the star witness kind of Both before and you know after she Testified um so like is that how do you Feel that that's how that's how it was You know was Caroline the star witness And and what was the atmosphere in in The courtroom like when when she was

Testifying because obviously you know as You said like she and were were closer Than Anyone true um yes everyone was really Anticipating Caroline Ellison um and Thought that she would be the star Witness and I think she was in some ways Um she she cried on the stand which was A pretty pivotal not pivotal moment but It was a bit emotional uh people started To feel for her and um that I will say That in court those days those were some Of the busiest days it seemed like a lot Of people really wanted to see see Caroline talk in person but um I was Actually surprised because I didn't Expect too much out of nishad sing's Testimony I think that Caroline Ellison And Gary Wong are brought up more in the News than nishad Singh Is oftentimes but Nishad sing's testimony actually in my Opinion Became um sort of the star of the Show um nishad just had a lot of very Vivid recounts of his private Conversations with Sam bakman freed and Told to the like recounted those Conversations in great detail and was Giving very Vivid explanations of where Sam was sitting what his facial Expressions were like and it sounds like Nishad Singh was the only one who Actually confronted and stood up to Sam Throughout all of this um so nishad

Claimed that he found out about the use Of FTX customer funds in around September of 2022 and he says or he Claimed that he had a balcony a Conversation with Sam on a balcony where He basically confronted Sam about the um Use of customer funds and Sam seemed to Acknowledge it and didn't seem surprised By any of this and um uh I guess I can't Really give a play byplay anymore Because I don't remember exactly what Was said but I thought nishad sing's Testimony was quite Explosive okay was was nishad the one I Think I I think this came out during That at some point during the trial was He the one who when everything was was Collapsing you know when um you know it The whole the whole thing was coming Apart was he the guy who sort of came in And said will you please stop playing World of Warcraft or whatever it was That he was doing like I think That that sounds like it would have been Nishad I don't remember if he was the One who said that exact line but it Sounds like it would have been NAD Because it sounds like he was the only One who sort of kept pushing back on Sam And um standing up to Sam so it might Have been I think so yeah I thought that Painted like an amazing picture of just What it must have been like in those in Those hours and days when the whole

Thing was crumbling like it must have Been just an the most extraordinarily Tense atmosphere but I do love this idea Of someone just coming in like please Please stop playing computer games for For one moment whilst we whilst we try And fix this now it's fascinating that Tiffany regards nishad sing's testimony As being perhaps the most damning for SBF nishad was FTX is director of Engineering and has known the bankman Freed family since he was a teenager During his testimony he described how he Became increasingly concerned about FTX Wild spending which he said quote rre of Excess as Tiffany said he pushed back Against s SPF about this spending and Was on at least one occasion shouted Down by his boss who he had quote always Been intimidated by this lavish spending Included things like that Miami Heat Deal Tiff mentioned earlier as well as Splashing out on real estate in the Bahamas celebrity endorsements political Donations and so much else besides using Money from ftxs customers now nad's Testimony lays the blame for all of this At s spf's feet and such unrestrained Spending is something that will Undoubtedly resonate with the jury while The ins and outs of the inner workings Of alamaa and FTX may be harder for the Jury to fully comprehend s SPF allowing Customer funds to be spent so freely and

So widely looks pretty much like Straightforward fraud and after this Tiffany and I discussed some other Important moments from The Trial what What did you feel were there any Particular moments other than we've Talked about the testimonies of uh of Nishard in particular Caroline as well Are there any other moments so far that You think have been particularly pivotal In the trial either you know in in favor Of the prosecution or the Defense um yeah I think there have been So I think That as we've seen and I don't know if If all viewers have watched a lot of Sam's previous interviews but Sam has Certainly been hinging on this margin Trading excuse and saying that he Thought that he was using the funds of Customers who agreed to margin trading But that excuse has been proven pretty Much false time and time again Throughout the trial so um one witness We had which I don't think got as much Media attention because he wasn't one of The primary insiders but um a man named K Sun who was the former general councel Of FTX he recounted a conversation with Sam bakman freed in the days leading up To ftxs actual collapse in filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy um in which Sam Was sort of frantically seeking Investors to try to cover the whole and

Um one investor wanted to see a balance Sheet and saw that there was a massive Poll in the balance sheet and asked Sam For some like justification for how FTX Customer funds ended up at alamer Research so Sam approached his General Council Canon and asked hey can you help Me sort of brainstorm some potential Legal justifications for how FDA Customer funds ended up at Alam which is Problematic for a lot of reasons I mean Obviously that insinuates that Sam Previously was using those customer Funds but did not think it was legal I Mean I I don't obviously that wasn't Explicitly stated in court so I don't Want to make too harsh a claim on that But obviously him sort of frantically Asking for help on legal justifications Insinuates that he didn't think it was Legal before that day so Kon The General Counsel came back to him saying okay I Can give you a couple of theoretical Legal justifications but none of these Justifications actually line up with the Facts or the numbers of how much of how Many FTX customer funds ended up at Alamer research so one of those Theoretical justifications that Ken Sun Gave was pointing to the terms of Service and pointing to yeah FTX did Have a margin trading facility or Program um so you could theoretically Argue that these funds were you know

Used because of this margin trading Program but Sam the amount of funds Again it doesn't line up with the number So this excuse is essentially null and Does not work Sam apparently responded Yep yep acknowledging this but then Proceeded to set off on his media tour Immediately after the collapse even Talked to me he talked to me on November 16th which was 5 days after the collapse And I believe less less than two weeks After this conversation with K son where He was explicitly told that this excuse Does not check out and gave me that Excuse gave me the margin trading Excuse and I'm not gonna say that Sam he He Sam did at the time tell me well There were a lot of things that happened So margin trading he kind of says was One component of how the funds ended up At Alam so I'm not going to say he Actually claimed that was how the entire Thing happened but I will say that he Was aware that his general counsel told Him that this excuse is theoretical and Doesn't line up with the facts but Proceeded but Sam proceeded to use it on Multiple interviews and is still using It in court and in his Testimony wow so I thought that was a Pretty big one and I think that that That one didn't get as much press just Because K son isn't one of the big names Like Caroline Ellison Gary Wong this is

Not a good look for Sam it adds further Weight to the prosecution's assertion That he knew damn well FTX customer Funds had been used to prop up alamida And sought to engineer some sort of Justification for this that might lure New investors in to help plug the hole It all further illustrates just how Shaky spf's defense really is on which Note I was going to say I'm excited to See the cross-examination because so far We've basically been seeing sort of the Softball questions because we've just Seen Sam answering questions from his Lawyer and those questions I assume are Pre-rehearsed and Sam knew what they Were going to ask knew how to answer Them so everything I've talked about so Far in Sam's testimony has been just the Direct questioning from his lawyers We're going to get into the more Difficult portion for Sam which is going To be the pro cross-examination from Very very confident or confident and Competent prosecutors so I think that The cross-examination is going to be Even more Interesting yeah and and prosecutors who I guess really kind of have the wind in Their Sals you know they they must be Feeling pretty confident after you know After presenting their case um so they Must they must really smell blood so it Seems then that SPF really only has one

Hope to cling on to that his defense is Able to as Tiffany said work at least Some element of Doubt into the jury's Minds because all it will take to get Him off of any one of the seven charges He's facing will be for only one juror To have doubts about his guilt on that Particular count the prosecution needs a Unanimous verdict to make each charge Stick so there is a chance SBF will be Able to wriggle out of some of them that Said the prosecution has done a Brilliant job so far and this continued As they finally got the chance to Cross-examine SBF over the last couple Of days now Monday's grilling would have Been particularly ging for S SPF defense Team given that most of the Prosecution's ammunition came from the Numerous media appearances he had made As part of his socalled apology tour Following ftxs collapse now given that Many of FTX and alam's internal Communications took place over messaging Apps like signal and were thus Automatically deleted this strategy of Spilling his guts to seemingly anyone Who would listen now seems even more Idiotic as coindesk put it quote had he Stayed quiet one imagines this portion Of the case could have taken a Strikingly different course indeed Several times during Monday's lengthy Cross-examination SP SPF was reduced to

Answers like quote I don't recall now Not remembering is unlikely to prove a Particularly effective strategy for Convincing the jury of his innocence so As the trial approaches its conclusion It looks like SPF is going to have to be Very lucky to avoid a unanimous verdict Of guilty on all counts if he is found Guilty on all counts then he's looking At decades in jail even though the General consensus seems to be that a 100e plus sentence is perhaps a little Unlikely and not only has the Prosecution done a seemingly excellent Job so far but they've also been helped In no small part by the defendant Himself whose inability to keep quiet And listen to the advice of his lawyers In the wake of ftxs collapse May seal His downfall as the saying goes give Someone enough rope and they'll hang Themselves and that's all for today Folks my thanks to Tiffany for speaking To me for this video and I'll leave Links to where you can follow her below If you enjoyed this video please do like Subscribe and share it with others also Don't forget to check out the coin Bureau deals page for the very best Discounts and promos in all of crypto And remember you can follow us on Twitter Tik Tok and Instagram as well my Name is guy thank you for watching and I'll see you again

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