TL;DR<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The SBF Trial just got crazier this week, as a lot of unexpected things were thrown into the Jury\u2019s desk, including Chinese government bribes, enticing the Saudi Crown Prince to invest in Alameda, Thai prostitutes and orgies, a scheme to suppress the price of BTC, and much more.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot to unpack in just a few days. We have piled up the latest and most important developments and updates so you can keep track of everything. We\u2019ll start with Caroline Ellison, SBF\u2019s ex-girlfriend, who took the witness stand twice this week.<\/p>\n Here are the most outrageous confessions by Ellison in the case against SBF.<\/p>\n Ellison, former Alameda CEO, said that while she had a business executive position at the trading firm, it was Sam who specifically directed her on how to use Alameda\u2019s funds, move capital, and talk to institutions and investors. In other words, Sam was the mastermind backstage.<\/p>\n Ellison stated that Sam pressured her and the Alameda team to \u201cborrow as much money as we could,\u201d resulting in $10 billion of outstanding third-party loans by mid-2022, the beginning of the end for FTX\/Alameda.<\/p>\n When things started falling apart, Ellison said she felt a \u201csense of relief as I didn\u2019t have to lie anymore.\u201d According to her testimony, Ellison warned Sam about the state of Alameda\u2019s balance sheets and not hedging more on specific high-risk trades in 2022.<\/p>\n Allegedly, Ellison was being \u201ctoo careful\u201d not to tell investors anything too specific or explicit as she feared written communication could be used in a court case.<\/p>\n In 2021, the Chinese government froze $1B of Alameda\u2019s funds on Huobi and OKX. According to Caroline, SBF and his team were trying to figure out a way to access the funds, so they came up with three possible solutions:<\/p>\n The order to bribe Chinese officials, which Ellison states she didn\u2019t know to whom those accounts belonged, was ordered by Trabucco and Bankman-Fried in a Signal conversation that was later deleted (by Sam\u2019s orders).<\/p>\n More testimonies from Ellison: One Alameda employee, Handi Yang, opposed the decision before it was executed as her father was a Chinese official. Sam quickly responded by telling her to \u201cshut the fuck up.\u201d As a result, Handi quits, and a month later, Sam Trabucco \u2014whose whereabouts are still unknown to this day\u2014 asked in a Signal chat: \u201cDid Handi\u2019s father immediately turn us in or something?\u201d to which SBF laughed it off as a response.<\/p>\n On her second testimony day, Ellison revealed how Sam tried to pay FTX customers by raising money from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<\/p>\n Regarding Alameda, Sam commanded Ellison to pay lenders using \u201cFTX\u2019s line of credit\u201d \u2014in other words, using FTX\u2019s customer funds, a vicious spiral of debt and misuse of funds.<\/p>\n There were also remarks about Sam\u2019s image. As per her statements, Sam was always worried about how people would perceive him, and Sam\u2019s hair was \u201cvery valuable\u201d to him as it was a significant part of the narrative he was trying to push, alongside the crypto community\u2019s most famous Corolla, which he used as a PR stunt while living in a $30M+ penthouse.<\/p>\n At the brink of chaos, lenders and investors were starting to ask for Alameda\u2019s balance sheet. Ellison revealed she heavily doctored the firm\u2019s original balance sheet and created seven different versions with inflated numbers.<\/p>\n In reality, Alameda\u2019s net asset value barely reached $6 billion on paper, having liabilities north of $14.9 billion. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to be dishonest, but I also didn\u2019t want them to know the truth,\u201d Ellison stated.<\/p>\n Moreover, lead prosecutor Danielle Sassoon pulled a Tweet from SBF on June 27th, 2022, where he stated, \u201cBackstopping customer assets should always be primary. Everything else is secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n Sasson asked Ellison if, at the time of this tweet, FTX was solvent to backstop customers, to which she responded, \u201cNo.\u201d The truth is that FTX had around $6.9B in liquid assets, while total deposits on the exchange amounted to $15 billion.<\/p>\n This trial could have massive implications for the cryptocurrency space, specifically on the regulatory front and the loss of investors\u2019 confidence in the industry.<\/p>\n Ellison, who pleaded guilty while his ex-boyfriend pleaded not guilty and free of all guilt and accusations, has become the government\u2019s star witness. But Ellison is not the only executive that has turned on SBF. The list is Gary Wang, Rayan Salame, Nishad Singh, and Ramnik Arora.<\/p>\n SBF is currently facing more than 110 years in prison for seven charges of federal crimes. The cherry on top is that SBF also believed he had a 5% chance of becoming president. Not even a Hollywood script would have this level of creativity.<\/p>\n\n
SBF Told Ellison to Lie and Mislead Investors<\/h2>\n
![\"Caroline_Ellison\"](\"https:\/\/cryptopotato.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/ftx_court_cb.jpg\")
Chinese Official Bribes<\/h2>\n
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The Saudi Crown Prince and the Messy Hair<\/h2>\n
Doctored Papers & Balance Sheets<\/h2>\n
What\u2019s Next?<\/h2>\n
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