Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial is scheduled to start on Oct. 3, but the actual opening arguments are projected to begin a day later, a newly released court trial calendar shows.
The document, posted to the public court docket on Thursday, shows that while most of October and the first week of November are dedicated to the trial, the court will not be in session between Oct. 20 and Oct. 25. Nov. 3 will also be a day off, as will Oct. 9 and Nov. 10 – both of which are public holidays.
The trial days are marked as shaded days. The non-shaded days list the visiting hours for the Metropolitan Detention Center, where Bankman-Fried is currently detained.
During a hearing earlier Thursday, Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing the trial, asked the prosecution and defense to estimate how long they expect their respective cases to last. Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Kudla said the Department of Justice estimated their case taking four to five weeks. Mark Cohen, representing Bankman-Fried, said the defense’s case was more streamlined and — if the defense chooses to present a case — they could take up to a week and a half.
The calendar might be extended as a result, the judge noted, but in any event the consensus seems to be that the trial will end by Thanksgiving in late November.
During that same hearing, the judge denied a defense motion to have Bankman-Fried temporarily released for the duration of the trial. The onetime FTX executive has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy.
The trial will kick off at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, when voir dire begins.
UPDATE (Sept. 28, 2023, 23:35 UTC): Adds additional context.