The trial of the former CEO of the defunct crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), continued on October 17 with the cross-examination of FTX’s former Director of Engineering Nishad Singh. In continuation of what was said from the previous day, Singh provided more details as to SBF’s wrongdoings while being cross-examined by SBF’s lawyer, Mark Cohen.
Sam Bankman-Fried Downplayed The Negative Balance
During direct examination on October 16, Singh had mentioned that Alameda Research’s negative balance had grown to as much as $8 billion, something which he heard from a conversation between FTX’s co-founder Gary Wang and Adam Yedidia.
Following that event, the engineer stated that Alameda’s ex-CEO, Caroline Ellison, sent a spreadsheet to him, Wang, and SBF, which showed the negative balance in the accounts. However, according to Singh, Sam Bankman-Fried downplayed it and stated that it was a bug.
He also mentioned that Sam Bankman-Fried had proposed to him that he take out a loan of $477 million from the exchange. However, the FTX engineer stated that he never got the cash as it was only on paper.
Despite revelations made by Singh, one could argue that SBF’s lawyers finally dealt a blow to the prosecution’s case during cross-examination. Notably, Cohen asked questions that could dampen Singh’s credibility…
