Featured Story
Stanford Law professor David Mills, who led Sam Bankman Fried’s criminal defense trial, says the FTX co-founder went off the rails when he took the stand.
“He may be at the very top of the list as the worst person I’ve ever seen do a cross examination,” said Mills, a close friend of Bankman-Fried’s parents.
The 76-year-old Mills says that while the verdict was inevitable, SBF refused to adopt a key strategy in the face of his co-founders throwing him under the bus on the witness stand, Bloomberg reports.
“I thought it was almost impossible to win a case when three or four founders are all saying you did it,” said Mills. “Even if they’re all lying through their teeth, it’s really, really hard to win a case like that.”
Mills says that if he had his way, SBF would have admitted to everything the witnesses and prosecution said, and then focused on convincing the jury that it was all part of a good-faith effort to save FTX.
“That’s not how Sam remembers things, to put it kindly,” said Mills. “I thought there was a really good story there. But he can’t tell the story that all these people are lying. You got five people who say one thing, one person says another thing. Well, you’ve got no shot—zero.”
Instead of admitting to his mistakes, SBF became combative, quibbling over prosecutors’ phrasings, while claiming not to remember damning statements he made. The now-jailed SBF came off as evasive, while his cross examination devolved into death by a thousand cuts, as prosecutors dragged his nose in his own words.
Mills eventually had enough, and was notably missing from the courtroom when the jury delivered its verdict.
Meanwhile, he says he won’t have anything to do with any appeal by the FTX co-founder, and worries about his relationship with SBF’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried.
“I’m concerned, when you believe in your child’s complete innocence, that you need to blame someone,” he said. “and I am a likely candidate.”
Bankman and Fried, meanwhile, said in a statement: “We love David Mills. He has been a fantastic lawyer for us. He has also been an amazingly steadfast friend and will be grateful to him for being with us in a dark time, forever.”
Mills isn’t so sure.
“My sadness for them is extreme, and I don’t know that our friendship will survive this.“
So sad. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that SBF was convicted of fraud, and dug his own grave. In February, he will face five additional charges at a second trial, including bank fraud and bribery. Source: ZeroHedge
Don't Miss
Bitcoin Vs Marx: Two Competing Geopolitical Domino-Theories
by Tyler Durden Authored by Robert Malka via BitcoinMagazine.com, Marxism and Bitcoin have one thing in common, the idea that a radical change in the…
Read More
Three Branches of U.S. Government Have Kept the Secrets of Jeffrey Epstein’s Money Man, Leslie Wexner, Locked Up Tight, Now the House of Cards Fall!
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 12, 2024 ~ Leslie Wexner (left); Jack Kessler (right). Both men were involved in the New Albany Company with Jeffrey…
Read More
“It’s the Old DNA Basically Bashing the New DNA,Slow-Walking Of Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval,Trouble is Here
by Tyler Durden AMs the dust settles on the SEC’s begrudging approval of spot bitcoin ETFs – and trading begins – the shitshow behind the…
Read More
New York State Has Turned Over a Vast Amount of Its Financial Affairs to 5-Count Felon JPMorgan Chase
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli There’s only one thing more dangerous than the largest bank in the United States, JPMorgan…
Read More
Bitcoin & Big-Tech Burst Higher Amid Bloodbath In Boeing & Black Gold
by Tyler Durden A quiet macro day (though we did see NYFRB inflation expectations plunge!), but some ‘good’ news from Washington reduced the risk of…
Read More