Day Three Highlights in Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trial

The criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former founder of FTX, progressed into its third day on Thursday. The New York courthouse saw the continuation of testimonies that began promptly at 10 a.m.

The spotlight shifted to Adam Yedidia during this session. An old college buddy of Bankman-Fried from their days at MIT, Yedidia was later employed by his friend at FTX. The duo shared a close bond, living together in a lavish apartment in the Bahamas, joined by Nishad Singh and Garry Wang.

The courtroom witnessed some interesting action on Thursday. Adam Yedidia, once a developer at FTX, was quite candid. He was under the impression that Alameda was simply safeguarding some of FTX’s funds. Discovering the $8 billion Alameda debt in the FTX system, which he had a hand in creating, he was dismissed by Sam, who termed it an oversight. Yedidia’s decision to leave FTX was swift upon realizing Alameda’s mismanagement of customer assets. He candidly shared his views on Bankman-Fried’s extravagant Bahamas dwelling and unequivocally stated that FTX had betrayed its customers.

Matt Huang’s testimony also raised eyebrows. The co-founder of Paradigm revisited his 2020 investment in FTX which came about after a virtual interaction with Bankman-Fried. Huang and his firm Paradigm were uneasy about FTX’s association with Alameda. Their $278 million investment was siphoned off to Alameda, unbeknownst to them. When prodded by SBF’s attorneys about investing in a company without a board of directors, Huang mentioned his unheeded advisories to Bankman-Fried on the matter.

Gary Wang, the CTO and co-founder of FTX, made some startling admissions. He owned up to wire fraud at FTX and implicated several others, including Nishad Singh, Caroline Ellison, and Bankman-Fried. Wang went on to describe the internal mechanisms that allowed Alameda free access to FTX’s funds. He also explained the reasoning behind the addition of “Research” to Alameda’s title. Wang provided a breakdown of the ownership stakes in both entities, with Bankman-Fried holding a majority in both.