The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-dissolved FTX exchange, has begun. The trial opened with discussions of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Solana, but notably, FTT, the exchange’s native token, was not mentioned.
During the first day of trial on Tuesday, the prosecution’s opening statements in the New York district court were primarily aimed at introducing the jury to the concept of digital assets. Intriguingly, there was no mention of the FTT token, which is associated with the abrupt failure of FTX last year.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thane Rehn laid out the case against Bankman-Fried, accusing him of misappropriating billions from thousands of individuals and utilizing their funds for personal enrichment. FTX was compelled to declare bankruptcy last year when it was unable to maintain 1:1 reserves of customer assets after a sharp decline in the value of FTT and a subsequent wave of withdrawals.
Despite being charged with seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, Bankman-Fried entered a plea of not guilty. His lead counsel, Mark Cohen, contended that a concatenation of unfortunate events led to the downfall of FTX, despite the “good faith” and “reasonable business measures” taken by Bankman-Fried.
Various cryptocurrencies were discussed as the government introduced its first two witnesses during the trial, yet FTT was not discussed. The case is ongoing.
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