Seven professional witnesses anticipated to testify on behalf of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have been rejected, based on a ruling dated Sept. 21.
Bankman-Fried’s checklist of now-excluded witnesses featured specialists in a number of areas, together with advisor Thomas Bishop, information analyst Brian Kim, legislation professor Bradley Smith, British barrister Lawrence Akka, advisor Joseph Pimbley, monetary advisor Peter Vinella, and assistant enterprise professor Andrew Di Wu.
U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan dismissed testimony from these witnesses for numerous causes, together with shortcomings in every particular person’s acknowledged opinions and the final irrelevance of deliberate testimony. Authorities prosecutors had requested Choose Kaplan to reject Bankman-Fried’s witnesses in August.
The choose additionally excluded some witnesses on the likelihood that testimony might confuse the jury and excluded some authorized specialists as a result of their deliberate testimony aimed to instruct the jury on problems with legislation.
Regardless of the rejections, Bankman-Fried will likely be allowed to name 4 of the above professional witnesses, however solely in response to authorities witnesses.
Choose says authorities witness can testify
Choose Kaplan additionally declined Bankman-Fried’s personal request to exclude testimony from Peter Easton, a College of Notre Dame accounting professor who is predicted to offer testimony associated to buyer deposits as a witness for the prosecution.
The choose mentioned that Bankman-Fried’s objections are “meritless or moot” and don’t deal with all of Easton’s deliberate testimony. He mentioned that Easton has related, specialised data and permitted Easton to depend on information that he didn’t accumulate.
Prosecutors are additionally anticipated to name former FTX associates, together with Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh, as witnesses. These witnesses weren’t talked about within the newest submitting.
Throughout his trial, Bankman-Fried will face seven costs largely associated to fraud, cash laundering, and conspiracy to commit these actions. Prosecutors are anticipated to pursue different costs, together with marketing campaign finance costs, at a later date.
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