FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried testified on Thursday at his fraud trial, outside the jury's presence, that lawyers at his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange were involved in key decisions at the heart of the case, as he sought to distance himself from responsibility for any wrongdoing.
Bankman-Fried, taking the witness stand hours after the prosecution rested its case presented over 12 trial days, gave testimony that fit with the defense argument that he acted in good faith while running FTX, which collapsed in November 2022 following a wave of customer withdrawals.
But on cross-examination by prosecutors, Bankman-Fried often struggled to point to specific conversations in which lawyers approved his actions. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said several of Bankman-Fried's responses did not directly answer prosecutors' questions.