Former 'king of crypto' FTX boss to take stand in fraud trial that, so far, seems to be going very badly for him

pcgamer.com:

The former «king of crypto» Sam Bankman-Fried is currently on trial for fraud in the United States, following the 2022 collapse of his crypto firm FTX. The trial has been running since early October and sees Bankman-Fried facing seven charges total including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering, all of which he denies. But by all accounts, things are going terribly.

The first two weeks of the trial have seen a slew of Bankman-Fried's former colleagues, friends, and even his ex-girlfriend line up to testify that the crypto king knew exactly what he was doing when transferring money from FTX to the investment firm Alameda Research (i.e. stealing investor money). Several of these people have accepted plea deals for their own roles in the scandal, as part of which they have to give truthful testimony at this trial.

Thus far their evidence has overwhelmingly supported the prosecution's version of events, and Bankman-Fried's defence team have found little joy in the cross-examinations: particularly notable was the testimony of his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, who said "he directed me to commit these crimes."

So the crypto king is getting ready for his greatest, and possibly final, gamble. It was first rumoured that Bankman-Fried would take the stand when his lawyers began arguing for his supply of certain medications in prison, and now his team has confirmed (via the Financial Times) that he will take the stand in his own defence. A court conference on Wednesday saw Bankman-Fried's lawyer Mark Cohen say that, alongside other defence witnesses, «our client is also going to be testifying.»

Bankman-Fried is facing life in prison if convicted, so this is as high-stakes as it gets. It's a move that usually indicates