In the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, SBF is a shadow of his former self – internet is slow, no vegan meals and the Adderall supply is limited. Before he was an inmate awaiting his next week trial for a high-profile fraud case, disgraced Crypto Bro Sam Bankman-Fried was a liberal billionaire beloved by the MSM, a young prodigy went on to become the second biggest donor to the Democrat Party, after only George Soros.
He was also alleged in his indictment to be ‘the mastermind and leader of a multi-year criminal scheme that involved defrauding investors, lenders, and retail customers of billions of dollars, and spending fraud proceeds to corruptly influence United States politics’.
Now, the judge in his case allowed prosecutors to discuss Sam Bankman-Fried’s political donations at the trial, because he understood that the contributions ‘are relevant to the fraud charges’ faced by SBF.
New York Post reported:
“US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said evidence of the former billionaire’s donations were ‘intertwined inextricably’ with charges he defrauded FTX customers by stealing billions of dollars in deposits.
‘Evidence that the defendant spent FTX customer funds on political contributions is direct evidence of the wire fraud scheme because it is relevant to establishing the defendant’s motive and allegedly fraudulent intent’, Kaplan wrote.”
The Feds had initially charged SBF with conspiring to break campaign finance laws, but had to drop the campaign finance charge after the Bahamas protested it was not part of the agreement to extradite him.
“Prosecutors said he used $100 million in stolen FTX deposits to fund those donations, which he hoped would spur the passage of crypto-friendly legislation.
In his ruling, Kaplan also rejected Bankman-Fried’s request to bar prosecutors from telling jurors that FTX had declared bankruptcy and he had resigned as chief executive.”
Kaplan said such evidence would be relevant at trial.
Fortune reported:
“In a 16-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan agreed to let the prosecution present evidence to the jury that Bankman-Fried sought to bribe a Chinese official in hopes of getting access to $1 billion in funds the country had frozen. While the government has not charged Bankman-Fried with a crime in relation to the alleged incident in the upcoming trial, Kaplan found evidence about the bribe could support allegations about his motive for looting customer funds.”
Judge Kaplan had other hard rulings for SBF’s defense.
The defendant will not be able to tell the jury about his philanthropic work and charitable donations.
The prosecution will be able to introduce evidence from FTX’s television commercials.
DOJ also can introduce evidence that Fried ordered the Alameda’s CEO Caroline Ellison to amass digital tokens, like FTT and Serum that Bankman-Fried had created and endorsed.
He will also prevent Bankman-Fried from blaming regulators or FTX’s lawyers for his predicament.
“The judge, however, didn’t side with the prosecution’s request to stop Bankman-Fried’s legal team from cross-examining witnesses—likely Ellison and other top lieutenants—about their recreational drug use. The Justice Department had argued that doing was not relevant to the ‘witness’s truthfulness and would serve only to harass the witness and prejudice the jury against them’.”
SBF has pleaded not guilty to all charges, his trial set to begin next week.
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