Soon 12 jurors will decide the fate of the FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. This morning, authorities began the jury selection process for the trial.
The much anticipated six-week trial of Bankman-Fried has at last gotten underway. He stands accused of serious charges including wire fraud, money laundering, and securities fraud.
Jury Will Decide Whether Sam Bankman-Fried Spends His Life in Prison
According to the Financial Times, authorities are screening potential jurors among New York citizens of various walks of life. The citizens face questions to detect any bias they might hold as a potential jury member.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have submitted their suggestions for the questions to the court. The questions are planned in a way to filter out those who lost money in crypto or even those citizens whose friends or family members have suffered from losses due to crypto trading.
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Brendan Quigley, a defense lawyer at Baker Botts, said:
“You will have ordinary New Yorkers . . . who do not have any crypto investments, who may have heard something about this in the news but have not been closely following it.”
FTX founder’s lawyers also made multiple attempts for a pre-trial release of the FTX founder. However, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the requests due to various risk factors, including Bankman-Fried’s possible escape.
Various legal experts believe that if Sam Bankman-Fried is convicted of all the charges, he may get sentenced to over 100 years in prison. In January 2023, the FTX founder pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Bankman-Fried and his legal team are likely to mount a vigorous defense. However, his fate now lies in the hands of the jury.
Read more: FTX Collapse Explained: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Empire Fell.
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