{"id":148389,"date":"2023-09-02T05:36:17","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T00:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/?p=148389"},"modified":"2023-09-02T05:36:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-02T00:06:17","slug":"ftx-founders-expert-witnesses-could-cost-up-to-1-2k-an-hour-crypto-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/ftx-founders-expert-witnesses-could-cost-up-to-1-2k-an-hour-crypto-news\/","title":{"rendered":"FTX founder\u2019s expert witnesses could cost up to $1.2K an hour &#8211; Crypto News"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-v-2649fa34=\"\">\n<p>As the start date of the trial of FTX co-founder <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/top-people-in-crypto-and-blockchain-2023\/sam-bankman-fried-and-caroline-ellison\">Sam \u201cSBF\u201d Bankman-Fried<\/a>\u00a0approaches, new court filings indicate that SBF could pay his expert witnesses more than $1,000 an hour should they testify on his behalf.<\/p>\n<p>SBF may call seven expert witnesses to testify at his fraud trial, which is currently scheduled for Oct. 2, 2023. The proposed expert witnesses include Lawrence Akka, Thomas Bishop, Brian Kim, Joseph Pimbley, Bradley Smith, Peter Vinella and Andrew Di Wu.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the witnesses, such as former Federal Election Commission Chairperson Bradley Smith, will <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940.236.5.pdf\">charge<\/a> SBF\u2019s legal team $1,200 an hour to testify about issues such as the United States\u2019 campaign finance laws and straw donors, according to a court filing on Aug. 28.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have no financial interest in the outcome of this case. I am being compensated for my time and services on an hourly basis at the billing rate of $1,200 per hour,\u201d Smith said in the filing. The document added:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy compensation in this case is not in any way contingent or based on the opinions presented herein or on the outcome of these legal proceedings.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Other expert witnesses, including Akka and Pimbley, could\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940.236.1.pdf\">charge<\/a> 800 British pounds ($1,000) and $720 per hour, respectively, should they testify, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940.236.4.pdf\">according<\/a> to the court filings. Other hourly rates for SBF\u2019s potential expert witnesses range between $400 and $650.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, Peter Easton, an accounting professor at the University of Notre Dame, who is a proposed witness for the prosecution, will charge $1,175 per hour, the court data <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940\/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940.236.9.pdf\">shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The above-mentioned court filings came as part of a motion by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/doj-bars-sbf-s-expert-witnesses\" data-amp=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph-com.cdn.ampproject.org\/c\/s\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/doj-bars-sbf-s-expert-witnesses\/amp\">ban all seven expert witnesses<\/a> from testifying for SBF in court.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ argued that Bankman-Fried\u2019s proposed experts and their accompanying disclosures \u201csuffer from an array of deficiencies\u201d and fail to provide a basis for the opinions.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related: <\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/doj-sbf-fraud-allegation-defense-irrelevant\" data-amp=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph-com.cdn.ampproject.org\/c\/s\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/doj-sbf-fraud-allegation-defense-irrelevant\/amp\"><strong><em>DOJ calls SBF\u2019s fraud allegation defense \u2018irrelevant,\u2019 requests additional info<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere the defendant does disclose the expert\u2019s opinions, the opinions are inappropriate subjects for expert testimony, lack a reliable methodology or basis in facts and data, or are irrelevant, unfairly prejudicial, and confusing to the jury,\u201d the authority wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The news comes amid the last deadline for SBF to request a postponement of the trial. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/judge-says-sam-bankman-fried-lawyers-september-request-trial-postponement\" data-amp=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph-com.cdn.ampproject.org\/c\/s\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/judge-says-sam-bankman-fried-lawyers-september-request-trial-postponement\/amp\">If the request is filed by Sept. 1<\/a> and approved, SBF\u2019s trial will be moved to March 11, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried faces 12 criminal charges, which will be spread across two trials scheduled to begin on Oct. 2, 2023, and March 11, 2024. He has <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/sam-bankman-fried-enters-not-guilty-plea-for-all-counts-in-federal-court\" data-amp=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph-com.cdn.ampproject.org\/c\/s\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/sam-bankman-fried-enters-not-guilty-plea-for-all-counts-in-federal-court\/amp\">pleaded not guilty to all counts<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><em><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mint.cointelegraph.com\/?url=https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/sam-bankman-fried-pays-witnesses-1200-an-hour-to-testify&amp;utm_source=cointelegraph_com&amp;utm_medium=appendix&amp;utm_campaign=articles\" data-amp=\"https:\/\/mint-cointelegraph-com.cdn.ampproject.org\/c\/s\/mint.cointelegraph.com\/?url=https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/sam-bankman-fried-pays-witnesses-1200-an-hour-to-testify&amp;utm_source=cointelegraph_com&amp;utm_medium=appendix&amp;utm_campaign=articles\/amp\">Collect this article as an NFT<\/a><\/em><\/strong><em> to preserve this moment in history and show your support for independent journalism in the crypto space.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Magazine: <\/em><\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/bitcoin-miner-gets-life-in-prison-china-offers-bounties-for-crypto-firms-asia-express\/\"><strong><em>Asia Express: Bitcoin miner gets life in prison, China offers bounties for crypto firms<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the start date of the trial of FTX co-founder Sam \u201cSBF\u201d Bankman-Fried\u00a0approaches, new court filings indicate that SBF could pay his expert witnesses more than $1,000 an hour should they testify on his behalf. SBF may call seven expert witnesses to testify at his fraud trial, which is currently scheduled for Oct. 2, 2023. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[235,203,210,234,231,232,237,238,236,233],"class_list":["post-148389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain","tag-bitcoin","tag-crypto-currency","tag-elon-musk","tag-ethereum","tag-hyperledger","tag-ibm","tag-mining","tag-nodes","tag-spacex","tag-tesla"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148392,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148389\/revisions\/148392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}