| Bankman-Fried
Melts Down on
the Mock Cross
on Dan
Friedberg Use
of Drugs
Crypto Creeps
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
LITERARY SDNY,
Oct 26 --Twenty sixth day of
October and in the US v.
Bankman-Fried trial, it and
SBF were on...
Or not.
Judge Kaplan said
that Sam would take the stand
at 2 pm. And at 1:55 there he
was, in a too-big suit and
lavender tie, sitting in the
witness box. But
before Judge Kaplan came back
in, Sam returned to the
defense table.
And then a fast
change of plans. The judge
asked the lawyers who much
time each expected with the
witness. The numbers were
absurdly low: 60 to 90 minutes
for direct, Mark Cohen said;
45 minutes for cross, replied
AUSA Danielle
Sassoon.
That did
it. Judge Kaplan said that in
order to hold the hearing he'd
alluded to, a dress rehearsal
of Team SBF's attempt to get
advice of counsel before the
jury - the idea that Sam
couldn't be guilty if lawyers
he hired told him it had all
been OK - he'd send the jury
home and play it again Sam for
them on Friday.
For
a moment it seemed that Judge
Kaplan might also exclude the
press from the dress
rehearsal. Most producers
would. But it remained open.
On direct
examination with Cohen, Sam
was in his element, talking
about block explorers and
saying, in essence, that it
was all dan Friedberg's
fault.
On cross
examination it fell apart.
Hadn't Sam known that
Friedberg had previously been
general counsel at a firm with
a criminal insider trading
scandal? Cohen's objections to
that were overruled. Hadn't
Friedberg used illegal
narcotics to --
That objection
was sustained. Used illegal
narcotics to what? The damage
was done. Now Sam was talking
in circles, saying he didn't
remember, saying I, I, I, or
aye, aye, aye. Was his
Adderall wearing off?
Or was he just
being exposed? And how much of
this would the jurors get or
have to hear the next day?
More on this on
Substack here
More book sample
on Substack here.
Extended on Patreon here.
Book here
***
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