"Part of that story, in his view, was that he received advice from company lawyers that made him think everything he did was OK. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw Bankman-Fried's 2023 criminal trial, wasn't so sure. The judge had Bankman-Fried testify in court without a jury and allowed prosecutors to cross-examine him. Afterward, the judge ruled that the purported advice he got from lawyers was irrelevant to the case and would only confuse jurors."
"Ultimately, the jurors convicted the former FTX CEO and cofounder of eight criminal counts, for several varieties of fraud and money laundering. Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison. In an appeal brief, Bankman-Fried's attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, described the preview hearing as a "deposition" and said it was "unprecedented." "The government had obtained a free preview of Bankman-Fried's testimony, and a free practice session to better cross him when he testified before the jury," she wrote."
An appeals court will review whether Sam Bankman-Fried received a fair trial after a pre-jury hearing where he testified outside the presence of jurors. Judge Lewis Kaplan allowed prosecutors to cross-examine Bankman-Fried during that hearing and later ruled that his claimed legal advice was irrelevant and could confuse jurors. Bankman-Fried testified again for the jury the next day but faced limits on what he could say. A jury convicted him on eight counts of fraud and money laundering related to an $11 billion scheme involving commingling FTX depositor funds with Alameda Research. Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
Read at Business Insider
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