Sam Bankman-Fried Says FTX Actions Were Guided by Lawyers

Sam Bankman-Fried testified in an unusual hearing that he relied on the blessing of lawyers to make business decisions such as deleting communications and making loans to himself, actions that prosecutors said allowed him to commit the crimes that led to the implosion of the FTX crypto exchange.

Bankman-Fried, on trial for fraud, money laundering and other offenses, had been expected to testify in front of a Manhattan federal jury on Thursday afternoon. Instead, in what amounted to a practice session, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan required the FTX founder to walk through several subjects that were in dispute so the judge could rule on what Bankman-Fried could say to jurors.