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Sam Bankman-Fried- Case Archive
personpersonAdam YedidiaAdam YedidiaFormer FTX software developer and Alameda Research trader who was a longtime friend of Samuel Bankman-Fried.← All People
WitnessFTX and Alameda Research

Adam Yedidia

Former FTX software developer and Alameda Research trader who was a longtime friend of Samuel Bankman-Fried.

AppearedFederal Criminal Trial
1,005 lines·11 proceedings·7 mentions

About

Adam Yedidia testified for the prosecution about his work as an FTX software developer and his longtime friendship and working relationship with Samuel Bankman-Fried. He explained FTX customer accounts and said he resigned after learning that Alameda had used customer deposits to repay creditors. He also disclosed that he was testifying under court-ordered immunity because he feared code he had written might unknowingly have contributed to a crime.

Yedidia described how customer dollar deposits were sent to the Alameda-controlled North Dimension account and how FTX's database tracked Alameda's resulting liability. He acknowledged introducing a bug that overstated the balance. After correcting it in June 2022, however, he found that Alameda still owed approximately $8 billion, reported the amount to Bankman-Fried, and shared a postmortem document through Signal.

He testified that Bankman-Fried encouraged the use of Signal and automatic deletion because preserving messages could create regulatory downside. Yedidia also recounted asking about the debt, hearing that FTX and Alameda were no longer bulletproof, and observing Bankman-Fried appear unusually worried or nervous. He said not all customers received their money during the November withdrawal crisis.

On cross-examination, the defense emphasized that Yedidia had little responsibility for finance, accounting, compliance, investors, or company spending. Questioning also examined his immunity, government contacts, trial preparation, and responsibility for the database bug. Yedidia maintained that approximately $8 billion remained after the correction, while clarifying that he did not attend the June meeting discussed in his testimony and that the information leading to his resignation came through another employee.

Trial Record (11)

FederalFederal Criminal TrialOct 3, 2023 – Nov 2, 2023Called by prosecution

Adam Yedidia explained FTX's customer-deposit systems and testified that correcting a database bug still left Alameda owing approximately $8 billion. Cross-examination examined his immunity, limited financial responsibilities, role in creating the bug, and reliance on secondhand information before his resignation.

Day 2

DirectAdam Yedidia — DirectAdam YedidiaDanielle R. Sassoon4highlights120lines spoken

Summary

Adam Yedidia described his close relationship and work history with Sam Bankman-Fried, his resignation after learning Alameda had used FTX customer deposits to repay creditors, his immunity concerns, and FTX's marketing, website, and shared Bahamas residence.

Highlights (4)

admissionAfter a hearsay objection, the court instructed the jury that information from another developer was admitted only to explain Yedidia's actions. Yedidia then testified that he learned Alameda had used FTX customer deposits to repay creditors and that he resigned.Open in transcript →
Quote“I learned that Alameda Research had used customer -- FTX customer deposits to pay back its loan to creditors.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia identified the information that prompted him to end his employment and relationship with Bankman-Fried.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightYedidia disclosed that he was testifying under an immunity order, had no testimony agreement with the government, would not testify without immunity, and feared that he may unwittingly have written code contributing to a crime.Open in transcript →
Quote“I was concerned that as a developer at FTX I may have unwittingly written code that contributed to the commission of a crime.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia explained why he would not testify without an immunity order.Open in transcript →

Day 3

DirectAdam Yedidia — DirectAdam YedidiaDanielle R. Sassoon7highlights367lines spoken

Summary

Adam Yedidia explained how Alameda received and tracked FTX customer fiat deposits, testified that a corrected code bug revealed an approximately $8 billion liability, and described Bankman-Fried's knowledge, Signal auto-deletion policy, and response to concerns about the debt.

Highlights (7)

admissionYedidia testified that fiat@ftx.com recorded Alameda's liability for customer fiat deposits and that the corrected balance showed approximately $8 billion owed to FTX customers in June 2022.Open in transcript →
Quote“The negative value of the fiat@ftx.com account effectively represented the liability Alameda owed to FTX's customers.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia summarized the accounting mechanism at the center of his testimony about customer fiat deposits.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightYedidia described a code bug that overstated the liability, said he corrected an approximately $16 billion balance to approximately $8 billion, and testified that he told Bankman-Fried the corrected amount.Open in transcript →
evidence eventYedidia testified that Bankman-Fried instructed employees to use Signal with automatic deletion and explained that the Signal message carrying Yedidia's analysis was deleted while the underlying document remained.Open in transcript →
Show all 7 highlights
Quote“The documentation that I created does, but the message that carried the documentation does not.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia distinguished the surviving bug analysis from the Signal message that had transmitted it and was later automatically deleted.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightYedidia recounted raising the approximately $8 billion debt with Bankman-Fried, who said FTX and Alameda were no longer “bulletproof”; Yedidia described him as worried or nervous and said that demeanor was atypical.Open in transcript →
Quote“In response, Sam said something like, We were bulletproof last year but we're not bulletproof this year.”— Adam YedidiaThe qualified recollection captured Bankman-Fried's response when Yedidia raised concern about Alameda's large debt.Open in transcript →
CrossAdam Yedidia — CrossAdam YedidiaChristian R. Everdell6highlights469lines spoken

Summary

Yedidia's cross-examination explored his limited financial role, FTX's controls and growth, his immunity and government preparation, the fiat-account bug, the approximately $8 billion liability remaining after correction, and the secondhand information that prompted his resignation.

Highlights (6)

impeachmentCross-examination established that Yedidia asserted his Fifth Amendment right, received immunity orders, met repeatedly with prosecutors, and remained subject to prosecution if he lied.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightYedidia acknowledged introducing the fiat-account bug, which increasingly overstated Alameda's liability, and testified that after he fixed it at Sam's direction, an approximately $8 billion liability remained.Open in transcript →
Quote“I was told afterwards about the substance of the meeting, but I don't know firsthand what the——what was discussed.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia distinguished secondhand information about the June meeting from what he personally observed.Open in transcript →
Quote“The number seemed enormously large to me.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia explained why the approximately $8 billion remaining liability caused him concern.Open in transcript →
Show all 6 highlights
impeachmentThe defense established that Yedidia resigned after Leila Clark relayed what unnamed Alameda employees reportedly heard Caroline say at an all-hands meeting, rather than merely because Yedidia already knew of the approximately $8 billion liability.Open in transcript →
Quote“I believe she said that she heard it from Alameda employees who had attended the all hands meeting with Caroline.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia identified the secondhand chain through which he learned the information that prompted his resignation.Open in transcript →
RedirectAdam Yedidia — RedirectAdam YedidiaDanielle R. Sassoon4highlights49lines spoken

Summary

Yedidia distinguished knowing about Alameda's $8 billion liability from knowing customer funds had been spent, explained his "not bulletproof" interpretation and resignation, and addressed FTX spending, luxury housing, compensation, and the limits of his pre-November knowledge.

Highlights (4)

testimony highlightYedidia explained that he did not resign upon learning of Alameda's $8 billion liability because he thought customers could still be repaid. He distinguished that knowledge from learning that customer money had been spent and said using customer funds to repay loans implied the money was gone.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightYedidia testified that he understood Bankman-Fried's statement that FTX and Alameda were not "bulletproof" as expressing doubt about Alameda's ability to repay FTX customers and as indicating that Bankman-Fried had information Yedidia lacked.Open in transcript →
Quote“I understood it to be expressing doubt about the ability of Alameda to repay FTX customers.”— Adam YedidiaYedidia clarified his interpretation of the "not bulletproof" statement after defense questioning about the conversation.Open in transcript →
testimony highlightYedidia said no one told him before November 2022 that Alameda was spending customer money from the North Dimension account on its own expenses and investments.Open in transcript →

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