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The defense began making their final plea to the jury Wednesday afternoon in Manhattan as Sam Bankman-Fried\u2019s criminal trial nears its end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government has tried to turn Sam into some kind of villain, some kind of monster,\u201d lead defense attorney Mark Cohen began during closing arguments Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the few areas of agreement between both prosecution and defense appears to be that witnesses have been inconsistent. As might be expected, they subsequently disagree on which side is being dishonest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government\u2019s core case\u201d is based entirely on \u201cwitness testimony that is not consistent,\u201d Cohen argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The defense added a new point to their argument Wednesday by opting to note that the government\u2019s core group of witnesses \u2014 Gary Wang, Adam Yedidia, Can Sun, Caroline Ellion and Nishad Singh \u2014 were among Bankman-Fried\u2019s closest friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[But,] every movie needs a villain,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Cohen took issue with the way Bankman-Fried\u2019s appearance was mentioned throughout the case \u2014 shown via both photo exhibits and testimony \u2014 and said that \u201cSam [Bankman-Fried\u2019s] appearance has nothing to do with how FTX worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his testimony, Bankman-Fried admitted that he wore shirts and a t-shirt<\/a> \u201cbecause he found them comfortable\u201d and chose not to receive frequent haircuts because \u201cI was kind of busy and lazy.\u201d Bankman-Fried\u2019s testimony did, however, contradict with testimony from his ex-colleague and ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cohen began his presentation after the prosecution took the podium for a little over two and a half hours Wednesday morning. If Bankman-Fried\u2019s team can\u2019t finish closing arguments, today the government\u2019s rebuttal and charge instructions will be delayed until Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his closing statements for the prosecution, Thane Rehn<\/a> claimed that Bankman-fried \u201clied\u201d to the jury, and reiterated the allegation that Bankman-Fried chose to commit fraud.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss the next big story \u2013 join our\u00a0free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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