Cointime

Download App
iOS & Android

Judge Blocks Sam Bankman-Fried's Proposed Witnesses From Testifying

  • The federal judge in Sam Bankman-Fried's trial has rejected all of the witnesses the FTX founder's defense lawyers sought to put on the stand.
  • The judge also blocked the defense's effort to get rid of one of the government witnesses set to testify.

Judge Lewis Kaplan, who's overseeing Sam Bankman-Fried's trial, granted the U.S. Department of Justice's motion to block all of the FTX founder's proposed witnesses from testifying at his trial next month.

In a Tuesday order, the judge said that while the defense could try to call four of the witnesses they proposed earlier this year, they would have to jump through some legal hoops, such as providing proper disclosures at least three days before the witnesses might testify. He also denied Bankman-Fried's motion to block a proposed government witness from testifying.

Bankman-Fried's defense team wanted to call seven individuals: Lawrence Akka, a British barrister; Thomas Bishop and Joseph Pimbley, who are with different consulting firms; Brian Kim, a data analytics and forensics expert; Bradley Smith, a law professor at Capital University Law School and Andrew Di Wu, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.

The DOJ objected, giving reasons ranging from a lack of proper clarity on what the witnesses would discuss to their unsuitability for testifying in a U.S. criminal trial.

Judge Kaplan granted all of the DOJ's objections, but said that the defense could try to call Bishop or Kim to respond to DOJ witnesses – namely an FBI agent or Peter Easton, who the prosecution intends to call to testify about customer deposits based on an analysis of FTX data.

There's a catch, however: Bishop or Wu would need to have "filed a complete Rule 16 disclosure ... at least three days prior to the date of the relevant defense witness." The DOJ can still object as well.

The judge set the same conditions for Pimbley and Wu.

Akka, Vinella and Smith are being excluded entirely, and in a footnote the judge wrote, "the Court harbors serious doubts regarding Dr. Vinella's qualifications as an expert in the subject matter of his proffered testimony," though Judge Kaplan added that that's not why he excluded him.

Comments

All Comments

Recommended for you

  • Why the Future of Ethereum is Smart (Accounts)

    In the dynamic landscape of Ethereum, the traditional concept of digital ownership through externally owned accounts (EOAs) is revealing its limitations. As Ethereum's ecosystem grows, incorporating more complex applications and expanding through layer-2 scaling solutions, it becomes evident that our foundational tools for ownership and interaction need an overhaul.

  • Taiwan's administrative agency passed four new anti-fraud laws to bring cryptocurrency traders under control

    It was announced that Taiwan's administrative management agency has passed the "New Anti-Fraud Law" to regulate cryptocurrency traders. In the future, businesses or individuals providing virtual asset services or third-party payment services must complete anti-money laundering measures and register their services or log in. Failure to do so may result in a maximum of 2 years in prison or a fine of up to NT$5 million. Businesses or individuals outside of Taiwan providing virtual asset or third-party payment services must register their companies or branches according to company law and complete anti-money laundering measures and service registration or login. Otherwise, they are not allowed to provide virtual asset services or third-party payment services in Taiwan. Qiu Shuzhen, the deputy chairman of Taiwan's financial regulatory agency, stated that there are currently around 60 to 70 cryptocurrency traders in the market, of which 25 have passed the anti-money laundering review by the financial regulatory agency. In the future, all traders will be required to declare and undergo review, and a cryptocurrency traders' association will be established for legal, administrative, and association management. Accounting professionals will also be enlisted to assist with internal control.

  • Speculatory Divergence

    There has been a growing divergence in performance between Bitcoin and Ethereum during the 2023-23 cycle thus far. This has manifested as weaker price performance for ETH, and can be explained by an overall weaker capital rotation trend, especially relative to past cycles and ATH breaks.

  • EigenLayer TVL falls back to $14.794 billion

    According to DefiLlama data, the total value locked (TVL) in Ethereum's re-staking protocol EigenLayer has fallen below $15 billion, currently at $14.794 billion.

  • The EU is considering including cryptocurrencies in the 12 trillion euro investment market, and its impact may far exceed that of US ETFs

    The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is consulting with the investment product advisory industry and experts on whether cryptocurrency assets should be included. This move could open up a broader market for cryptocurrencies, far exceeding the market size of spot Bitcoin ETFs. The plan aims to expand the scope of UCITS (EU Transferable Securities Collective Investment Scheme), with the UCITS market reaching as high as €12 trillion. If successful, this would be a key step in mainstreaming cryptocurrency assets in Europe.

  • The Usage & Evolution of Decentralized Exchanges (DEX’s)

    Checking in on pool liquidity, trading volumes and adoption across Ethereum DEX's

  • SlowMist: The hacker who stole 1,155 WBTC may be from Hong Kong

    According to SlowMist analysis , the IP address associated with the theft of 1155 WBTC has been traced to Hong Kong (VPN use cannot be ruled out). Earlier reports indicated that a certain address was suspected to be a victim of phishing attacks and lost 1155 WBTC, worth 71 million USD. Subsequently, the fraudsters sold all 1155 WBTC and exchanged them for 22960 ETH, and used a large number of wallet addresses to send and launder the funds.

  • Web3 game developer Seeds Labs completes $12 million seed round of financing, with participation from Solana Foundation and others

    According to Cointelegraph, Web3 game developer Seeds Labs has announced the completion of a $12 million seed round financing, with participation from Avalanche's Blizzard Fund, Solana Foundation, Krust, Hashkey Capital, UOB Ventures, Signum Capital, IVC, and Emoote.It is reported that Seeds Labs, a Solana ecosystem game infrastructure developer, was established in 2021, and its Web3 game Bladerite is scheduled to be released this month.

  • The total subscription volume of Hong Kong Bitcoin ETF yesterday was 101.6, and the Ethereum ETF showed net redemption for two consecutive days

    The Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETF had a net purchase of 101.6 bitcoins and a total holding of 4350 bitcoins on May 8th. The daily trading volume was 2.67 million US dollars, and the total net assets were 270 million US dollars. The daily BTC purchase came from Bosera HashKey and Huaxia Bitcoin ETF.

  • Trump announces he will accept cryptocurrency donations for his presidential campaign

    Donald Trump announced that he is accepting cryptocurrency as a form of donation for his presidential campaign.