I'm here in Lower Manhattan outside the Courthouse for the Southern District of New York.

Stevie Hertz is one of the economist's US correspondence and she's one of the journalists

who's been jostling to get into court.

And there's a bunch of press here, there's some camera crews, there's lots of camera men.

They are there for what is perhaps the biggest event in the history of crypto, the trial

of Sam Benjamin Fried or SBF, as he's known.

He was once the vunderkind of crypto, he was the golden boy, he was the head of FTX, but

now he's on trial for seven criminal counts of security fraud and money on drink.

He's pledged not guilty to all the counts, but if he's convicted he could get what would

essentially be a life sentence in prison.

It's not the first time this Courthouse has seen a high profile trial.

This is where E. Jean Carol versus Trump where those civil suits happened, it's where

Bob Menendez, the US senator, was arraigned.

But one of the things that's most famous for is financial crime.

So the junk bond king Michael Milken had his trial here, Bernie Maidoff, the Ponzi king,

his trial here, even Martha Stewart had her insider trading trial in this Courthouse.

Every day of the trial, SBF is transported to the Courthouse from a jail across the East

River in Brooklyn, that is notorious for its uncomfortable conditions.

Salmaitman Fried is famously a vegan and he said he's been surviving on bread, peanut

butter and water because the jail isn't providing any other vegan food.

And his appearance has changed too.

In court today, he had lost his famous mop of curly hair, it was now close crop to

...