Luxury real estate, political donations, investments, and magazine covers. A year ago, that was the life of Sam Bankman-Fried, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thane Rehn remarked during the opening statements of the world’s most famous crypto trial.

“All of it was built on lies,” Rehn continued, claiming that the co-founder of Alameda Research and FTX “lied to the world” to get richer and increase influence by lobbying in Washington, D.C. Rehn’s statement apparently affected even Bankman-Fried’s defense counsel, who responded with a lukewarm remark. His attorney, Mark Cohen, portrayed his client as an entrepreneur who made mistakes during times of accelerated growth. “There was no theft,” he told jurors.

At the gallery, among journalists and attorneys, were Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, parents of the defendant. While Joseph occasionally smiled over the last few days, Barbara stared at her son in courtroom for hours.

This week, four witnesses testified in the trial at the United States District Court in Manhattan. The list includes a French trader, an investor in FTX, alongside Adam Yedidia and Gary Wang, former close friends of Bankman-Fried.

Sam Bankman-Fried trial highlights were covered by Cointelegraph on the ground.

Marc Julliard

The prosecutor’s first witness to the jury was a cocoa trader from Paris, currently living in London. Marc Julliard was one of the victims of the FTX debacle in November 2022. Juilliard told jurors he had four Bitcoins on FTX, worth nearly $100,000 at the time. He recalled feeling anxious after trying to withdraw funds without receiving a return.

On FTX, he never traded futures. The Bitcoin stake was a substantial part of Julliard’s savings. Prosecutors used his testimony to illustrate how customers who trusted funds with FTX had been harmed since last year’s events.

Bankman-Fried’s defense tried to downplay prosecutors’ arguments, saying that the trader was a licensed professional in London who did not make decisions based on celebrity endorsements. Cohen noted that there was nothing wrong with hiring Tom Brady to run an ad for FTX.