Bankman-Fried retakes the witness stand for cross-examination by prosecutors

Bankman-Fried admitted to owning 90% of Alameda. However, he largely denied that he was involved in Alameda trading in 2022, stating:

“Depends on how you define trading … I would not say I was not involved in any way.”

Another section of the cross-examination largely focused on whether Bankman-Fried had promised to provide customers with a safe trading service. Despite those assurances, he also made statements suggesting a disregard for user protections — with Sassoon highlighting the fact that Bankman-Fried said “f–ck regulators” in one interview.

SBF on Alameda’s special treatment

Sassoon raised the question of whether FTX treated Alameda Research differently from its other customers.

Previous testimony from former FTX associates suggested that Alameda was allowed to have special privileges such as a negative balance and unlimited credit line. Bankman-Fried admitted that most customers would not be allowed a lasting unlimited negative balance. He also did not deny that Alameda could withdraw billions of dollars from FTX using a line of credit without falling under FTX’s automatic liquidation procedures.

Though he identified those instances of special treatment, Bankman-Fried often testified that he was unable to recall whether he had previously said that Alameda was treated the same as other customers. Sassoon asked several questions to that effect.

Bankman-Fried nevertheless admitted to stating, at one point prior to his company’s collapse, that Alameda “had the same access as other customers.”

Bankman-Fried remained under cross-examination at the time of writing.