1.Eliora Michaela Katz — Direct/Cross
357 linesUNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ------------------------------x UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. 22 CR 673 (LAK) SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, Defendant. Trial
New York, N.Y. October 18, 2023 9:30 a.m. Before: HON. LEWIS A. KAPLAN, District Judge APPEARANCES DAMIAN WILLIAMS United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York BY: DANIELLE R. SASSOON NICOLAS ROOS DANIELLE KUDLA SAMUEL RAYMOND THANE REHN Assistant United States Attorneys COHEN & GRESSER, LLP Attorneys for Defendant BY: MARK S. COHEN CHRISTIAN R. EVERDELL SRI K. KUEHNLENZ DAVID F. LISNER Also Present: Luke Booth, FBI Kristin Allain, FBI Arjun Ahuja, USAO Paralegal Specialist Grant Bianco, USAO Paralegal Specialist
(Trial resumed; jury not present)
JUDGE KAPLAN: Anybody have any objection to my bringing the jury more or less up to date on the schedule, with all sorts of appropriate caveats?
MS. SASSOON: No objection.
JUDGE KAPLAN: What we are looking at is the conclusion of evidence sometime in the week of October 30 or maybe November 6, right?
Of course we have the issue of whether there is a rebuttal case, a defense case. We have all those issues. But I think they have a right to know how long they are going to be here, to the extent we can tell them.
Let's get the witness on the stand and bring up the jury.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you, your Honor. The government calls Eliora Katz.
(Jury present)
JUDGE KAPLAN: Good morning, everybody. Folks can be seated.
The defendant and the jury all are present, as they have been throughout.
I wanted to say a couple of things to the jury before we get started this morning.
First of all, I know I speak for everybody in saying how much we appreciate the fact that you are here every day on time. You get back from lunch on time. That makes this all move. And everybody is very well aware of how much of your time this is taking and are very appreciative of your service.
The second thing I wanted to do is update you as best I can, which is kind of uncertain, about what the schedule is looking like, without in any way committing. There are contingencies about what will happen in the rest of the trial, as there are in any trial.
We currently think that the chance that the taking of evidence, which doesn't include your deliberations or my giving you my instructions and so on, could conclude as early as the week of October 30. It could also go into the week of November 6. If it does, it probably will conclude that week. If there are significant changes, I'll try to keep you posted, but I don't have all the information at the moment.
Mr. Raymond, I think it would be useful formally to call your witness.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you, your Honor. The government calls Eliora Katz.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Swear the witness, please, if we have not done that already.
Have we sworn the witness.
MR. RAYMOND: I don't believe so, your Honor. ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ, called as a witness by the government, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
JUDGE KAPLAN: Thank you. You may proceed, Mr. Raymond.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you, your Honor.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. RAYMOND:
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, where did you work a year ago?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: FTX US.
MR. RAYMOND: When did you start working there?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: April 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz can you speak a little further into the mic. I couldn't quite catch that.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: April 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Where was your office?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: In Washington, D.C.
MR. RAYMOND: What was your title?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Director of government relations and policy.
MR. RAYMOND: What were your responsibilities as the director of government relations and policy?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Advocating for regulatory clarity in the digital asset markets.
MR. RAYMOND: What does it mean to advocate for regulatory clarity? What were your day-to-day responsibilities?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Speaking with people in Washington about the importance of federal oversight over crypto spot markets.
MR. RAYMOND: When you say speaking to people in Washington, what types of people were you speaking to?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Staffers on the hill.
MR. RAYMOND: When you say the hill, what does that refer to?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Congress.
MR. RAYMOND: Who did you report to?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Mark Wetjen.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, did you ever meet Sam Bankman-Fried?
MR. RAYMOND: Did you ever meet him in Washington, D.C.?
MR. RAYMOND: Based on your job responsibilities, were you aware of the purposes of his trips to D.C.?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: The purposes that I was, you know, involved with, I guess, yes.
MR. RAYMOND: What were the purposes of his trips, if any?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: What I saw of -- engaging with policy makers about digital asset regulation.
MR. RAYMOND: How did you know that was the purpose of some of his trip to D.C.?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Because I participated in some of those meetings.
MR. RAYMOND: So that's meetings with Mr. Bankman-Fried and some of the policy makers you were describing?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Correct.
MR. RAYMOND: As far as you know, did Sam Bankman-Fried ever make any public statements while in D.C. related to FTX?
MR. RAYMOND: What were those?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: He testified before Congress in May, I believe, of 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: How do you know that he testified before Congress in May 2022?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Because I was present in the room.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government offers Government Exhibit 833, pursuant to stipulation Government Exhibit 2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 833 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, may we publish?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you read out the date of this tweet.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: November 28, 2021.
MR. RAYMOND: Was that November 28?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I'm sorry. November 8, 2021.
MR. RAYMOND: In this first tweet there is a reference to blog.FTX.com/policy.
Do you see that?
MR. RAYMOND: Do you recognize that link?
MR. RAYMOND: What was it or is it?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: FTX's blog in which they would post kind of think pieces related to digital asset policy.
MR. RAYMOND: Did you ever review the materials posted to that site?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I had read some of them, the material, yes.
MR. RAYMOND: And why did you review those?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: To understand how FTX was thinking about policy.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government will now read the first sentence of paragraph 8 of Government Exhibit 2000, which is a stipulation between the parties. Samuel Bankman-Fried testified before the United States House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on December 8, 2021.
Your Honor, the government now offers --
JUDGE KAPLAN: Before you go on, I am going to give an instruction.
Members of the jury, we talked about stipulations three weeks ago. You must accept as a fact what Mr. Raymond just read as having been stipulated.
Let's go on, Mr. Raymond.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you, your Honor.
Your Honor the government now offers Government Exhibits 913-1 and 913-2, pursuant to stipulation GX-2000, which are, according to the stipulation, true and correct copies of excerpts of video of his testimony that day.
JUDGE KAPLAN: They are received.
(Government Exhibits 913-1 and 913-2 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, may we publish Government Exhibit 913-1?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
Mr. Bianco, can you play that video.
(Video played)
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, did you recognize anyone in that video?
MR. RAYMOND: Who did you recognize?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I recognized Sam, as well as my former supervisor at FTX, Mark Wetjen.
MR. RAYMOND: Where was Mr. Wetjen sitting in that clip?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Behind Sam.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, could you now play Government Exhibit 913-2 for the jury.
(Video played)
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government next offers Government Exhibit 913-T, pursuant to GX-2000, which is a true and correct transcript of the excerpts of this testimony.
JUDGE KAPLAN: It's received.
(Government Exhibit 913-T received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, can we publish?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you publish it.
Could you go to the next page. Could you just highlight the bottom, the lines here.
Could you take that down, Mr. Bianco.
Your Honor, the government next offers --
JUDGE KAPLAN: Mr. Raymond, did you expect anybody to look at it or read it?
MR. RAYMOND: Not for that piece, your Honor, but for the next piece I will. Thank you.
JUDGE KAPLAN: It's your case.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
Your Honor, the government next offers Government Exhibit 913-A, pursuant to GX-2000, which is true and correct excerpts of Mr. Bankman-Fried's submissions to the financial services committee before his testimony.
Sorry, your Honor. Is the exhibit received?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
(Government Exhibit 913-A received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
Mr. Bianco, could you publish it.
Mr. Bianco, could you highlight the top portion.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you just read what exactly this is.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: It appears to be Sam Bankman-Fried's testimony before the House Financial Services Committee in December of 2021, and this was obviously before -- long before I joined FTX.
MR. RAYMOND: What does it list Mr. Bankman-Fried's role as?
MR. COHEN: Objection.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Sustained.
MR. RAYMOND: That's fine, your Honor.
Mr. Bianco, could you get out of this and go to the page 2. Could you just highlight this portion.
MR. COHEN: Same objection, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I have not heard a question.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, we can pull this down. We don't need to go further on this document.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you read this portion of the document.
MR. COHEN: Objection.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Overruled.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: FTX has designed and offered a platform with a market structure that is risk reducing. To be sure, there are irresponsible actors in the digital asset industry and those actors attract the headlines, but FTX is not one of them and in fact has built a resilient risk-reducing platform as a competitive advantage.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you go to page 3 of the document. Can you highlight the bottom.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, could you read this portion.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: BTC and ETH, two tokens expressly addressed by the CFTC to be commodities subject to its jurisdiction.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you go to the next page. The page after that, please. Could you go to the following page after this. Could you highlight the top portion, Mr. Bianco.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, do you recognize this document?
MR. RAYMOND: What is it?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: It was a piece that was on the FTX blog which was also posted on the FTX blog long before I joined FTX and which I had nothing -- I did not draft or write.
MR. RAYMOND: Were you aware of this document?
MR. RAYMOND: And had you seen this document when you were working at FTX?
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, you can take this document down.
Your Honor, the government next offers Government Exhibit 836, pursuant to stipulation GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 836 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: May we publish it?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes, sir.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, could you just read the date of these tweets.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: December 8, 2021, December 8, 2021.
MR. RAYMOND: Could you just read the first under number 1. Can you read the tweet.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: A huge thanks to Maxine Waters, Patrick McHenry, and the whole House Financial Services Committee for having us today to talk about the future of digital assets.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you get out of this tweet. A. Again, this tweet tweeted before I joined the company.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government next offers GX-763, pursuant to GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 763 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Can we publish to the jury?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
Mr. Bianco, can you publish.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you just read out the date first.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: February 6, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Could you read the tweet.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I'm honored and excited to be testifying before the senate AG committee on digital assets Wednesday, along with CFTC Behnam.
Also before I joined the company.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government will now read the first sentence of paragraph 9 of GX-2000, which is the stipulation between the parties:
Samuel Bankman-Fried testified before the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry on February 9, 2022.
Your Honor, the government next offers GX-764, pursuant to stipulation GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 764 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: May we publish?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
Mr. Bianco, can you publish 764.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, could you just read out the date of this tweet first.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: February 9, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: And the embedded tweet from SBF underscore FTX, can you just read that?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I'll be testifying before the senate AG committee today. Starts in 45 minutes. My panel probably starts an hour after that or so.
MR. RAYMOND: Can you read the FTX underscore official tweet on top of that.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: To download Sam's testimony, please go to FTX US. If you would like to view all of our policy briefs, please see ftxpolicy.com.
Also tweeted before I joined.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, ftxpolicy.com, that's a different URL than the one we looked at before, correct?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I believe so.
MR. RAYMOND: Did you ever look at what was on ftxpolicy.com?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I believe so.
MR. RAYMOND: And what was that?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: A blog where FTX would post Sam's testimonies and other thought pieces related to digital assets.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government now offers GX-914-1, which consists of, according to the stipulation, a true and correct video of excerpts of his testimony on February 9, 2022.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibits 914-1 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, can we play it for the jury?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
Mr. Bianco, can you pull it up.
(Video played)
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government next offers GX-914-T, which, pursuant to GX-2000, is a true and correct transcript of excerpts of Mr. Bankman-Fried's testimony before the senate.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 914-T received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, may we publish?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
Mr. Bianco, can you go to the next page, and the page after that. Could you just highlight Mr. Bankman-Fried's statement below.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, is that a transcript of the video we just saw?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I believe so.
JUDGE KAPLAN: You played the video.
MR. RAYMOND: Yes. Thank you, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I don't think we have to go through the transcripts of the video. You can put them in.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you, your Honor. Will do.
Your Honor, the government next offers GX-914-A, which, according to the stipulation, is a true and correct copy of excerpts of Mr. Bankman-Fried's submissions to the senate committee.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit received 914-A in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: May we publish?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you first highlight at the very top the testimony of Sam Bankman-Fried, cofounder.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, do you recognize this document?
MR. RAYMOND: What is it?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Sam Bankman-Fried's testimony before the senate agriculture committee on February 9, 2022.
Also before I joined FTX.
MR. RAYMOND: What is Mr. Bankman-Fried's role listed as in this document?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Cofounder and CEO of FTX.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, could you go down to page 2 of this document, and could you highlight this portion.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, could you just read the first sentence of the highlighted portion.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: FTX released this week FTX's key principles for ensuring investor protections on digital asset platforms (investor protection key principles) where we identified the most important components of an investor-protection regime (which the CEA and CFTC rules also reflect) and how FTX offers those protections today with the direct membership model.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, as part of your responsibilities at FTX US, were you aware of FTX's key principles?
MR. RAYMOND: Had you reviewed a document by that title?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: That document was published before I joined FTX, but I had seen it on the blog.
MR. RAYMOND: And could you just read the components listed below.
MR. COHEN: Objection.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Sustained.
Let's move it along.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you, your Honor.
Mr. Bianco, could you go to page 5 of the document. Could you pull up the top.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, is this the key principles document you were talking about a moment ago?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I believe so.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you highlight on the next page of the document the introduction, just the first sentence: FTX strongly believes ensuring investor protections is critical to the successful operations of digital asset platformings, including our own, as well as to ensuring positive user experience for our customers.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, when you were working at FTX, did you have any reason to believe this statement was false?
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you go to the next page of this document. Under the -- the page after this. At the very top, maintaining adequate resources.
MR. RAYMOND: Is maintaining adequate resources to return a customer's assets, a hallmark of the --
MR. COHEN: Objection.
JUDGE KAPLAN: What is the objection?
MR. COHEN: The document speaks for itself. We have gone over this.
JUDGE KAPLAN: I'll allow him to draw attention to it in this way.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you, your Honor.
A hallmark of the investor protection regimes for markets globally and in the U.S. are requirements to ensure the intermediary holding a customer's assets has adequate liquid resources available at all times to ensure the customer can redeem her assets when she chooses.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, when you were working at FTX, did you have any reason to believe that this statement was false?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: No. I was not involved with the inner workings of these issues and had no familiarity with them, so no.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you highlight the bottom part of this page: FTX's policies and procedures. It should go over to the next page as well. FTX has policies and procedures for its platforms today that reflect this basic principle by maintaining liquid assets for customer withdrawals, including a sufficient balance of digital assets funded by the company for its non-U.S. platform.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, did you have any reason to believe that this statement was false when you were working at FTX?
MR. RAYMOND: And, finally, Mr. Bianco, could you go to page 10 of this document. I think it's the next page.
Do you see the line additionally as a general principle, Mr. Bianco, in the middle of the page? Can you just highlight the middle of the page. Thank you.
Additionally, as a general principle, FTX segregates customer assets from its own assets across our platforms.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, when you were working at FTX, did you have any reason to believe this statement was false?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: No. These were issues that I had no visibility or I didn't pay attention to and had nothing to do with what I was doing there.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, did you draft this document?
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, you can pull this document down and can you pull up GX-873, which is in evidence. Could you go to page 8.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you read out the date of this tweet.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Yes. February 9, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Can you also read out the time.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: 7:40 p.m.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government next offers GX-839, pursuant to stipulation GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 839 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: May we publish?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you read the date and time of this tweet as well.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: 7:29 p.m., February 22, 2022.
Again, before I joined the company.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government now offers GX-844, pursuant to stipulation GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Sorry. I couldn't quite make out what number.
MR. RAYMOND: 844, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 844 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: May we publish it?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes, sir.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, could you read this tweet and the date.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Yes. I'm honored to be testifying before the house agriculture committee tomorrow at 10 a.m. 10:42 p.m., May 11, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, were you working at FTX in May 2022?
MR. RAYMOND: Did Mr. Bankman-Fried in fact testify before the house agriculture committee on that day?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I believe so.
MR. RAYMOND: Did you attend the hearing?
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government now offers GX-845, pursuant to stipulation GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 845 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: May we publish it?
JUDGE KAPLAN: You may.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you read the date of this tweet.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: May 11, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Can you read just the top number 3 tweet and then letter C below that.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: We think that by granting federal oversight of digital asset markets, it would, C, protect customers.
MR. RAYMOND: Thank you.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government next offers GX-916-T, which, pursuant to stipulation GX-2000, is a document submitted by Samuel Bankman-Fried to the United States House Committee on Agriculture for a hearing held on June 23, 2022.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 916-T received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, were you working at FTX US in June 2022?
MR. RAYMOND: Were you aware of a submission made to Congress around June 23, 2022?
MR. RAYMOND: Did you participate in preparing materials submitted to Congress?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I can't recall exactly. I believe this is the compilation of things that were posted on the FTX blog which were all drafted before I joined the company, so I had nothing to do with writing the content, but I might have helped submit it to Congress.
MR. RAYMOND: I think you mentioned the word compilation. Were you involved in compiling the documents from the FTX blog?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I can't recall exactly, but that might have been something that my boss at the time, Mark Wetjen, asked me to do, but I can't recall exactly.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, may we publish?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, can you go to page 3 of this document. Can you pull up just the top.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, do you recognize this document?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Yes. Something from an FTX blog post published before I joined the company.
MR. RAYMOND: And is this the company principles document that you mentioned before?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I believe so.
MR. RAYMOND: Mr. Bianco, could you just return to the first page of this document.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you just refresh, what is the date of this hearing?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: June 23, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the government now offers GX-870, pursuant to stipulation GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 870 received in evidence)
JUDGE KAPLAN: How much more of this, Mr. Raymond?
MR. RAYMOND: One more after this, your Honor.
May we publish it?
JUDGE KAPLAN: Yes.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, can you read the date first.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: August 3, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: Could you just read the first tweet.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I'm really excited to see Senators Stabenow and John Boozman introduce strong bill to bring customer protection and federal oversight to crypto.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, were you aware of the legislation proposed around this time related to the cryptocurrency industry?
MR. RAYMOND: Is your awareness part of your duties working for FTX US?
MR. RAYMOND: Your Honor, the last one now. The government offers GX-856, pursuant to GX-2001.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Received.
(Government Exhibit 856 received in evidence)
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, first, can you read the date on these tweets.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: October 19, 2022.
MR. RAYMOND: For the second tweet can you just read 2A.
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: At a high level, we need regulatory oversight and customer protection.
MR. RAYMOND: Ms. Katz, during your testimony you've seen certain tweets and public statements by Mr. Bankman-Fried. Did you believe those statements about how FTX worked when you worked at FTX US?
MR. RAYMOND: No further questions, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Thank you. Is there any cross?
MR. COHEN: Yes, your Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. COHEN:
MR. COHEN: Just a few questions, Ms. Katz.
Just so the record is clear, when did you actually work at FTX?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: From April 2022 through November 2022.
MR. COHEN: So about six, seven months?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Correct.
MR. COHEN: And I think you mentioned a fellow named Mark Wetjen, is that right?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Yes, sir.
MR. COHEN: He was your boss?
MR. COHEN: Do you know his background?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Somewhat, yes.
MR. COHEN: Do you know if he had ever worked for CFTC?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: He did, yes.
MR. COHEN: And what did he do there?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: I believe he was a commissioner.
MR. COHEN: He was one of the commissioners of the CFTC?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: To my knowledge, yes.
MR. COHEN: Now, if we could call up just very quickly GX-844.
MR. COHEN: Do you recall Mr. Raymond just showed this document to you?
MR. COHEN: And it references testimony before the House Committee on Agriculture. You see tractors and apples and so forth.
You see that, ma'am?
MR. COHEN: Do you know -- let me back up.
The House Committee on Agriculture had supervision over the CFTC, isn't that correct?
MR. COHEN: We can take that down.
MR. COHEN: Now, you mentioned that during the time you were at FTX there had been some written testimony submitted to Congress.
Do you recall that testimony, ma'am?
MR. COHEN: If I understand correctly, that was something that you did not work on?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Correct.
MR. COHEN: That was worked on by Mr. Wetjen and Mr. Bankman-Fried?
ELIORA MICHAELA KATZ: Correct.
MR. COHEN: I have nothing further. Thank you.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Thank you.
Anything else, Mr. Raymond?
MR. RAYMOND: No. Thank you, your Honor.
JUDGE KAPLAN: Ms. Katz, thank you. You are excused.
(Witness excused)
JUDGE KAPLAN: Next witness.
MR. ROOS: Yes, your Honor. The government calls Peter Easton. PETER DOUGLAS EASTON, called as a witness by the government, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
JUDGE KAPLAN: Mr. Roos, you may proceed.