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Unchained

SBF Trial, Day 5: SBF's Defense Finally Found Its Legs, But Can It Counter Caroline Ellison?

Unchained

Laura Shin

Tech News, Business News, News

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2023

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research and SBF's ex-partner, took the stand to reveal the alleged financial mismanagement at Alameda and FTX, which she claimed was at Bankman-Fried’s direction. The cross examination of Gary Wang finally began to show how SBF’s lawyers plan to defend him, though Wang largely appeared to be a yes man who simply trusted and followed his friend and co-founder. Ellison's revelations included Alameda's hidden trading of FTT to prop up its price, her warnings to SBF about Alameda’s inability to pay back its lenders if he put billions more into venture investments, and his views on risk and “expected value.” For instance, she claimed he said if, with a coin toss came up tails and would mean Earth’s destruction, he would toss the coin if there it was twice as likely that it would more than double prosperity on Earth. However, her testimony seemed designed to preemptively rebut the defense’s potential argument that Alameda needed to borrow customer funds because she had not hedged.  Catch up on Unchained’s previous coverage:  Sam Bankman-Fried Trial: Here’s Everything That Happened So Far SBF Trial, Day 1: Possible Witnesses Include FTX Insiders, Big Names in Crypto, and SBF’s Family SBF Trial, Day 2: DOJ Says Sam Bankman-Fried ‘Lied’ While Defense Claims His Actions Were ‘Reasonable’ SBF Trial, Day 3: Why a True Believer in FTX Flipped Once He Learned One Fact SBF Trial, Day 4: SBF’s Lawyers Annoy Judge Kaplan, While Wang Reveals Alameda’s Special Privileges Did Sam Bankman-Fried Have Intent to Defraud FTX Investors? Here’s How Sam Bankman-Fried’s High-Stakes Trial Could Play Out SBF Trial: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Might Try and Win His Case The High-Stakes Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried Begins: What to Expect In the SBF Case, Elite Corruption Is What’s Really on Trial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi everyone, Laura here.

0:06.0

This is the Unchained Recap for Day 5 October 10th of the Criminal Trial of Sam Pinkman

0:10.5

Freed.

0:11.8

On Tuesday, at the start of the second week in the Criminal Trial of Sam Pinkman Freed,

0:16.2

the former FTX CEO's defense lawyers finally seemed to make some headway after what was

0:21.3

largely seen as an ineffectual first week.

0:24.5

However, in the afternoon, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research and the

0:30.1

ex-girlfriend of SBF, testified.

0:33.5

Setting the stage for what looks like, Ellison and Pinkman Freed blaming each other for

0:38.4

Alameda's usage of FTX customer funds to pay the trading firm's debts.

0:43.3

Ellison followed Gary Wong, the co-founder of Alameda and FTX, who testified against Pinkman

0:48.7

Freed for a third day.

0:50.8

It was the first time the defense did not use many repetitive questions and instead

0:55.6

mounted a coherent line of argument to undercut some of Wong's testimony to the prosecution.

1:01.3

Still, by the end, it seemed that Wong was a yes-man, who mostly followed orders from

1:06.7

Pinkman Freed.

1:08.2

In one example, Wong noted that bitcoin's price in May and June of 2022 slid dramatically,

1:14.4

causing Alameda's lenders to ask for their money back.

1:17.3

As a result, Wong and top executives started calculating Alameda's balance on FTX to see

1:22.8

whether the trading firm could pay back its loans.

1:26.0

Defense lawyer Mark Cohen highlighted the difference between Alameda's total assets and Alameda's

1:30.9

balance on FTX, specifically how Alameda had balances and assets external to FTX.

...

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