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Sam Bankman-Fried- Case Archive
Federal Criminal Trialtrial-daytrial-dayDanielle R. SassoonMark S. CohenSamuel Bankman-FrieddirectsidebarcrossDay 16 - October 30, 2023On direct examination, Bankman-Fried described Alameda's liabilities, FTX's November withdrawal crisis, emergency financing efforts, and post-bankruptcy events. Cross-examination contrasted his public statements with private messages and evidence about Alameda's credit line, liquidation treatment, financial condition, and disclosures.
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Day 16 - October 30, 2023

Bankman-Fried on FTX's Collapse, Alameda's Account, and Public Statements

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
5Proceedings
3Pages
1Witnesses
3,252Lines
4Sidebars
Day 16 of 19
Appearing:
Danielle R. Sassoon Mark S. Cohen Samuel Bankman-Fried

On direct examination, Bankman-Fried described Alameda's liabilities, FTX's November withdrawal crisis, emergency financing efforts, and post-bankruptcy events. Cross-examination contrasted his public statements with private messages and evidence about Alameda's credit line, liquidation treatment, financial condition, and disclosures.

Full day summary

On direct examination, Bankman-Fried testified that an October database query revealed an approximately $8 billion fiat-related liability, which he believed was already reflected in Alameda's financials. He said Alameda still appeared to have roughly $10 billion in positive net asset value. He described warning Caroline Ellison about inadequate hedging, the November surge in FTX withdrawals, the decline in Alameda's assets, his removal of a public assurance that FTX was fine, and his efforts to liquidate Alameda assets and seek financing. He also testified about Binance's brief agreement to acquire FTX, Apollo's review of financial information, his post-bankruptcy public statements, and asset transfers undertaken at the direction of Bahamian regulators. During a sidebar, the court sustained the government's objection to proposed testimony that Bankman-Fried had told Nishad Singh neither of them had done anything wrong. The defense argued that the statement showed Bankman-Fried's state of mind, while the government characterized it as a retrospective, self-serving assertion outside the cited hearsay exception. On cross-examination, prosecutors contrasted Bankman-Fried's public statements about Alameda, customer safety, regulation, and risk controls with private messages and evidence concerning Alameda's account privileges. He acknowledged higher-level involvement in Alameda trading and hedging discussions, a $65 billion maximum credit line, Allow Negative settings, different liquidation treatment, and directing a code alteration so Alameda would not be liquidated like typical customers. He said he did not disclose that alteration to customers or Congress and did not recall disclosing it to investors. The examination also addressed the MobileCoin incident, agreements signed after their stated effective dates, venture investments, Robinhood shares, lender repayments, and Alameda's obligations to FTX. Bankman-Fried acknowledged knowing by September 2022 that Alameda owed FTX more than $10 billion while maintaining qualifications about his knowledge, beliefs, and the context of earlier statements.

1. Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct (Part 3)

Samuel Bankman-Fried's resumed direct examination opens Day 16 with testimony about Alameda's finances, FTX's November liquidity crisis, and his communications with Nishad Singh.

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Direct
Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct Resumed Samuel Bankman-Fried Mark S. Cohen
477 lines

Bankman-Fried described his October assessment of Alameda's liability and solvency, defended FTX's public assurances, and traced the withdrawal surge and asset crash. He said FTX faced a liquidity crisis and Alameda remained barely solvent while risking a solvency crisis.

Highlights

Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct Resumedtestimony highlightBankman-Fried described an October database query that revealed an approximately $8 billion fiat-related liability. He said he concluded it was already reflected in Alameda's financials, placed Alameda's total FTX liability around $10 billion, and still viewed Alameda as having roughly $10 billion in positive net asset value.Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct Resumedtestimony highlightUsing several admitted tweets, Bankman-Fried traced the CoinDesk article, Changpeng Zhao's announcement that Binance would sell its remaining FTT, Alameda's response offer, and FTX's withdrawal updates. He testified that net withdrawals rose from approximately $1 billion on November 6 to approximately $4 billion on November 7.Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct Resumed“It meant that we were on the verge of a liquidity crisis.”— Samuel Bankman-FriedThis was Bankman-Fried's concise characterization of FTX's position after approximately $4 billion in withdrawals on November 7.Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct Resumedevidence eventBankman-Fried testified that an asset-price crash reduced Alameda's net asset value from nearly $10 billion to slightly above zero and that its broad-market hedges provided no benefit. He said he removed his 'FTX is fine' tweet, began liquidating Alameda, and contacted potential investors; a stipulation supplied the tweet's deletion date.

2. Hearsay Sidebar and Ruling

During a sidebar on Day 16, the court sustained the government's hearsay objection to anticipated testimony about Bankman-Fried's statement to Nishad that neither of them had done anything wrong.

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sidebar
Hearsay Objection to Defendant's Statement
35 lines

Counsel disputed whether Bankman-Fried's proposed statement to Nishad Singh that neither of them had done anything wrong was admissible under the state-of-mind exception. The court sustained the government's hearsay objection at sidebar and repeated the ruling in open court.

Highlights

Hearsay Sidebar and RulingrulingThe court sustained the government's objection at sidebar and repeated the ruling in open court.

3. Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct/Cross (Part 4)

Samuel Bankman-Fried finished further direct testimony about emergency financing, Alameda's borrowing, and post-collapse events before prosecutors began an extended cross-examination of his public assurances, Alameda's special account privileges, investment decisions, and knowledge of its 2022 financial condition.

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Direct
Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct Resumed Samuel Bankman-Fried Mark S. Cohen
142 lines

Bankman-Fried described failed rescue financing, his understanding of customer-asset borrowing, Alameda's wind-down, his post-bankruptcy public statements, and a regulator-directed transfer of remaining FTX-custodied assets.

Cross
Samuel Bankman-Fried — Cross Samuel Bankman-Fried Danielle R. Sassoon
2563 lines

Prosecutors used Bankman-Fried's public statements, private messages, account records, and spreadsheets to challenge his claimed separation from Alameda and establish his knowledge of its exceptional credit, liquidation treatment, investment risks, and undisclosed advantages.

3 sidebars inside this proceeding
  1. Audio Exhibit and Transcript AidThe parties discussed the purpose and prior disclosure of an audio exhibit and its transcript aid offered during cross-examination.
  2. Foundation for a Published ArticleThe government sought to question the defendant about a published article and argued that it conflicted with his trial testimony.
  3. Post-Bankruptcy Conduct and Customer MoneyThe government argued that the defendant's efforts to obtain proceeds after bankruptcy bore on intent, while the defense invoked a pretrial restriction.
Procedural
Rebuttal Witness Disclosure and Trial Scheduling
35 lines

Highlights

Samuel Bankman-Fried — Direct ResumedadmissionBankman-Fried said Apollo received a spreadsheet containing the $8 billion liability and that he consulted Can Sun about the customer-asset borrowing framework before speaking with Apollo again.Samuel Bankman-Fried — CrossconfrontationBankman-Fried acknowledged public assurances about customer safety, withdrawals, regulation, and investor protection, then read private messages saying, “Just PR. Fuck regulators.”Samuel Bankman-Fried — Cross“Yeah. Just PR. Fuck regulators.”— Samuel Bankman-FriedBankman-Fried read his private messages after the government contrasted them with his public advocacy for customer-protective regulation.Samuel Bankman-Fried — CrossadmissionBankman-Fried acknowledged directing a code alteration so Alameda would not be liquidated like other customers and said he did not disclose that alteration to customers or Congress and did not recall disclosing it to investors.Samuel Bankman-Fried — CrossimpeachmentThe cross-examination used balance sheets, metadata, and Bankman-Fried's own spreadsheet to test his knowledge of Alameda's leverage, lender repayments, and multibillion-dollar FTX liability; he acknowledged knowing by September that Alameda owed FTX more than $10 billion.Samuel Bankman-Fried — Cross“I didn't believe there was a hole. I always believed there was a risk of a hole.”— Samuel Bankman-FriedThe statement captured his distinction between believing a shortfall existed and recognizing that leverage could create one.
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