Over and over on Tuesday, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange, denied knowing that billions of dollars in customer money had been misappropriated until shortly before his company collapsed last year, as a federal prosecutor grilled him for a second day in his criminal fraud trial, the New York Times reported. The 31-year-old onetime crypto mogul fumbled for an answer when the prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, repeatedly asked whether he had told his employees not to spend FTX customer money on investments, pricey real estate and other expenditures. Mr. Bankman-Fried also couldn’t name any employees who might have authorized the use of FTX customer money for that spending. “I don’t recall giving any direction,” Mr. Bankman-Fried said three times about the spending of FTX customer money before he concluded his testimony. Both sides rested their case before lunchtime on Tuesday, with closing statements set to unfold on Wednesday. Mr. Bankman-Fried was on the stand for a third day testifying before a jury in his own defense for a trial that has come to symbolize the highs and lows of the volatile crypto industry. The entrepreneur has been accused of masterminding a yearslong fraud to steal as much as $10 billion from FTX’s customers and then funneling the money to extravagant real estate purchases and other spending, as well as using the funds to prop up a crypto trading firm he also founded, Alameda Research. FTX, which was valued at $32 billion at its peak, imploded spectacularly last year, leaving many customers unable to recover their deposits. Mr. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. If convicted, he could face what amounts to a life sentence.
