Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty
Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder who has described himself as “one of the most hated people in the world,” unveiled their plan for defending him Wednesday, telling jurors that the former billionaire is just a hard-working “math nerd” who’d gotten in over his head.
Bankman-Fried faces decades in jail if convicted for his role in the downfall of the crypto exchange, which lost billions in customer money when it went belly-up in November. His criminal trial, taking place this month in a Manhattan federal courthouse, has far-reaching implications for the crypto industry at large.
A mass of reporters and self-styled “crypto influencers,” as well as Bankman-Fried’s parents and notorious former pharma executive and convicted fraudster Martin Shkreli, were on hand for opening arguments. Bankman-Fried, sporting a newly cropped hairdo and uncharacteristically formal suit, sat quietly in the third row, typing aggressively on his laptop as the government presented its case.