Sam Bankman Fried’s inner circle will testify today Cryptocurrency scrgruppen

A young entrepreneur who made mistakes while running a cryptocurrency empire or a liar who stole people’s money and used it to enrich himself? In the early hours of the six-week trial of Sam “SBF” Bankman Fried, that was the tone between defense attorneys and the prosecution.

The former FTX CEO faces a total of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. He could spend more than 100 years in prison if convicted.

At trial, SBF appeared to be focused on his defense strategy, constantly checking his laptop and attorneys’ papers. As the defense attorney delivered his opening statement, he turned his focus toward the 12 jurors who will decide whether SBF intentionally misused FTX clients’ funds or if mistakes were made in good faith.

Related: The Sam Bankman-Fried FTX Experience — 5 Things You Need to Know

Two witnesses testified on the first day of the trial: Marc Juilliard, a French trader who lost 4 bitcoins (BTC) worth over $100,000 in November 2022, and Adam Yedediah, a personal friend of SBF and a former employee of Alameda Research and FTX.

FTX’s advertising campaigns, celebrity endorsements and SBF’s tweets are among the evidence prosecutors are using to prove that SBF lied to customers while defrauding them.

However, according to the defense, there is nothing wrong with hiring Tom Brady to declare and file for bankruptcy during a market downturn.

The third day of the trial begins around 10:00 a.m. ET in federal court in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It will mark Yedidia’s second appearance at the trial, as well as FTX co-founder Gary Wang, a key witness.

Cointelegraph is on the ground in New York with the latest updates on the trial. Follow live updates here.