Welcome to the SBF trial, a CoinDesk Podcast Network newsletter bringing you daily insights from inside the courtroom where Sam Bankman-Fried will try to stay out of prison.

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Before she worked at Alameda Research, Carolyn Ellison did not think she'd break the rules of

morality and also accounting. Of course, this was also before her ex-boyfriend and boss, Sam

Bankman-Fried, convinced her that

such moors were worth bending for the greater good.

The FTX chief's creative ethics entered his criminal fraud trial during Wednesday's plotting,

but emotionally charged direct questioning of Caroline.

According to the government's star witness, Sam was so engrossed in his conception of right and wrong that other people's base principles, namely upholding the truth and not stealing, were at best guidelines, if even that.

The only moral rule that mattered to Sam was whatever maximized utility, Caroline said.

She testified Sam's goal was to create the greatest good for the most number of people.

Therein lies the altruist. Sam styled himself a champion of the effective altruist movement,

an offshoot of utilitarianism whose proponents seek to make as much money as possible,

and then give it to causes that might save the world. That was how Sam did it,

at least. For a time, his crypto empire appeared to be rocketing the quirky quant toward maximum

philanthropic velocity. He'd already started giving massive sums to politicians, charities, and

pet causes he thought could save humanity from itself. It came at the cost of his customers, according to prosecutors, as well as Enron John Ray

III. The crisis-era CEO of now bankrupt FTX Group has spent the past 11 months on a highly

lucrative global treasure hunt to claw back millions of donated dollars to make FTC customers

whole.

Regardless, Sam's maximal utility prompted Caroline to shelve whatever rulebook she'd followed

...