Seven skilled 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 record of now-excluded witnesses featured specialists in a number of areas, together with advisor Thomas Bishop, information analyst Brian Kim, regulation professor Bradley Smith, British barrister Lawrence Akka, advisor Joseph Pimbley, monetary advisor Peter Vinella, and assistant enterprise professor Andrew Di Wu.
U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan dismissed testimony from these witnesses for numerous causes, together with shortcomings in every particular person’s acknowledged opinions and the overall irrelevance of deliberate testimony. Authorities prosecutors had requested Decide Kaplan to reject Bankman-Fried’s witnesses in August.
The decide additionally excluded some witnesses on the chance that testimony may confuse the jury and excluded some authorized specialists as a result of their deliberate testimony aimed to instruct the jury on problems with regulation.
Regardless of the rejections, Bankman-Fried might be allowed to name 4 of the above skilled witnesses, however solely in response to authorities witnesses.
Decide says authorities witness can testify
Decide Kaplan additionally declined Bankman-Fried’s personal request to exclude testimony from Peter Easton, a College of Notre Dame accounting professor who is anticipated to supply testimony associated to buyer deposits as a witness for the prosecution.
The decide stated that Bankman-Fried’s objections are “meritless or moot” and don’t tackle all of Easton’s deliberate testimony. He stated that Easton has related, specialised information and permitted Easton to depend on information that he didn’t acquire.
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 fees largely associated to fraud, cash laundering, and conspiracy to commit these actions. Prosecutors are anticipated to pursue different fees, together with campaign finance charges, at a later date.
The submit Court rejects testimony from seven expert witnesses put forward by Sam Bankman-Fried appeared first on CryptoSlate.
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