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Sam Bankman-Fried- Case Archive
personpersonJoseph PimbleyJoseph PimbleyFinancial consultant affiliated with PF2 Securities, with experience in quantitative finance, risk management, coding, and databases.← All People
Witness· PF2 Securities

Joseph Pimbley

Financial consultant affiliated with PF2 Securities, with experience in quantitative finance, risk management, coding, and databases.

AppearedFederal Criminal Trial
243 lines·6 proceedings·4 mentions

About

Called by the defense on Day 14, Pimbley described experience in quantitative finance, coding, databases, risk management, teaching, and financial data systems. The defense retained him to extract information from what was represented to him as a snapshot of the FTX database. He said he had essentially no personal knowledge of the case beyond that assignment and disclosed his hourly rate and approximate time spent.

Pimbley testified that he reviewed the database and related Python code, ran and tested queries, compared results with a colleague, and used separate account- and user-ID queries to validate the Alameda results. He clarified that a colleague had supplied the initial Alameda line-of-credit query, although he said he independently tested and validated it.

Defense Exhibit 1617 charted Alameda's in-use line of credit from October 2021 through November 2022. Pimbley described it as slightly above $1 billion during the early months, near $3 billion before a sharp decline in mid-June 2022. Defense Exhibits 1618 and 1619 summarized November 2022 balances excluding Alameda and FTX entities: approximately $5.8 billion in four selected currencies and $8.9 billion across all currencies. The charts attributed $4.54 billion and $6.91 billion, respectively, to accounts categorized through spot-margin, spot-margin-lending, or futures activity.

On cross-examination, Pimbley agreed that his work showed what specified queries returned rather than establishing broader financial conclusions. He had not traced fiat or cryptocurrency, compared customer liabilities with available assets, determined the sources of identified spending or repayments, or calculated how much customers actually lent through spot margin. He also said the balance categories were descriptive and did not establish why the categories belonged together or whether Alameda's balances resulted from spot-margin borrowing.

Trial Record (6)

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

Called by the defense on Day 14, Pimbley presented database-query results concerning Alameda's line of credit and selected account balances. Cross-examination established that his charts described query outputs but did not trace assets, measure customer shortfalls, or determine how much was actually lent through spot margin.

Day 14

DirectJoseph Pimbley — DirectJoseph PimbleyChristian R. Everdell6highlights118lines spoken

Summary

Defense-retained consultant Joseph Pimbley explained how he extracted and validated FTX database figures underlying three admitted charts concerning Alameda's in-use line of credit and balances held by accounts excluding Alameda and FTX entities.

Highlights (6)

testimony highlightPimbley described his financial, coding, database, and risk-management experience before explaining that the defense retained him to extract information from an FTX database snapshot.Open in transcript →
Quote“Other than the work I've performed, I have essentially zero knowledge beyond——it's really beyond what I've seen in headlines. I don't follow the stories, but what I know about headlines. The trial is going on, so I know that. I'm limited to that kind of knowledge.”— Joseph PimbleyPimbley expressly limited his knowledge to his database assignment and general awareness from headlines.Open in transcript →
Quote“So I also ran the query using the user ID. So it's a different query and it got exactly the same answers as the first result. That's one of the ways that I checked that the queries are correct.”— Joseph PimbleyHe described a separate user-ID query that reproduced the account-based result as a validation check.Open in transcript →
evidence eventDefense Exhibit 1617 was admitted and published; Pimbley said the graph showed Alameda's in-use line of credit slightly above $1 billion during the first months and near $3 billion before a sharp mid-June 2022 decline.Open in transcript →
Show all 6 highlights
testimony highlightFor the November 2022 snapshot, Pimbley reported about $5.8 billion in the four selected currencies, including $4.54 billion in the specified spot-margin, lending, or futures-activity category, and $8.9 billion across all currencies, including $6.91 billion in that category.Open in transcript →
Quote“The second part is, when there is an intent of what the query should be, I did as much as I could to look through the code as well to understand where the code was interacting with that particular data I was extracting, that the code also was consistent with my understanding of what it should mean.”— Joseph PimbleyPimbley explained that he compared the intended query meaning with the underlying code's interaction with the extracted data.Open in transcript →
CrossJoseph Pimbley — CrossJoseph PimbleyThane Rehn7highlights125lines spoken

Summary

Pimbley acknowledged that his defense charts were limited database extractions that did not address intent, asset tracing, customer shortfalls, or the significance of counsel-selected account categories; the court then began Bankman-Fried's admissibility hearing outside the jury's presence.

Highlights (7)

admissionPimbley acknowledged that he had not interviewed Bankman-Fried, FTX employees, customers, investors, or database developers and could not address Bankman-Fried's knowledge, intent, or use of the queried data.Open in transcript →
admissionPimbley confirmed that he reviewed no bank statements, performed no financial or blockchain tracing, and did not determine whether customer obligations exceeded available fiat or cryptocurrency or whether customer assets funded specified expenditures.Open in transcript →
Quote“I can't say. I also have no knowledge of that, so I certainly can't say.”— Joseph PimbleyPimbley expressly disclaimed knowledge of whether cryptocurrency used to repay Alameda's lenders came from FTX customer funds.Open in transcript →
evidence eventGovernment Exhibit 1737 was received and published. Pimbley explained that the code treated Alameda account ID 9 differently by adding two other accounts to the in-use line-of-credit calculation.Open in transcript →
Show all 7 highlights
Quote“Yes, sir, and it's the only snapshot I received in evidence in this case, yes, sir.”— Joseph PimbleyPimbley confirmed that his user-balance charts rested on a single database snapshot rather than a historical series.Open in transcript →
admissionPimbley testified that Cohen & Gresser—not he—selected the grouping of futures, spot-margin, and spot-margin-lending accounts, and that he did not evaluate the significance of grouping them.Open in transcript →
Quote“It was the Cohen & Gresser request to me that made that decision. I did not make that decision.”— Joseph PimbleyPimbley attributed the decision to group three account categories in the pie chart to defense counsel rather than to his own analysis.Open in transcript →

Day 18

Day 19