5:23 pm ET The day’s trial is over, but it appears that there was not enough wind to finalize the jury.
Tomorrow morning at 9:30am ET, a small group of approximately 18 jurors from 50 will be chosen by hand. The daily deadline is 4:30pm, so it shouldn’t be too long.
“We now have a sufficient number” Kaplan made a note at the end day one of the individuals from whom he would select a juror.
Michael Lewis’ 60 Minutes interview with his book was cited by eight different people. “Going Infinite,” It is about Sam Bankman Fried. Presumably anticipating a media frenzy which would ensnare all of the remaining trial proceedings, Judge Kaplan had ordered the jurors under an electronic quarantine.
We didn’t say it, but the jurors did: Multiple potential jurors mentioned Bernie Madoff — you know, the fraudster who operated the largest Ponzi scheme in American history — during their screening questions.
On Wednesday, when the trial officially begins, the opening statements of the prosecution are expected to last between 20-25 minutes. For their first statement, the defense gets between 30 to 40 minute.
1:06 PM ET A dash of good luck is a must. “strong wind at our back” Kaplan stated that jury selection could be completed by the end of Tuesday. The opening statement is scheduled for Wednesday at a bright, early hour. Many parties are anxious to select the jury as quickly as possible.
During the morning proceedings — as many jurors line up their excuses in an attempt to get out of the trial for “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history” — prosecutors revealed that a plea deal was never offered to Bankman-Fried.
Banker-Fried has pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Twelve-nine pm Eastern Time SBF was accused by Judge Kaplan of defrauding FTX clients and investors. It is also suspected that SBF misled lenders for Alameda Research (formerly FTX sister company) as well.
Kaplan has said there would be twelve jurors, with six alternates. Cirrone claims that 22 potential jurors are excused.
Except for one individual, whose company allegedly had invested in FTX as well as Alameda prior to the jury selection, no member of the initial pool has ever dealt with SBF or FTX.
After lunch, the court will resume jury selection at 12:20 ET. New potential jurors are expected to take the places of those dismissed in the morning.
11:35 am ET: Former FTX Executive is Present. He was brought into the Metropolitan Detention Center from where he had been detained since he went to jail in August.
Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail was revoked by Judge Lewis Kaplan, who sided with government. The prosecution alleged that SBF leaked diary entries from his ex-colleague — as well as ex-girlfriend’s — diary to a New York Times reporter in an attempt to discredit her testimony ahead of trial.
Both the government and defense continue to argue over the testimony, even though the trial has already begun. Bankman Fried’s lawyers sent a letter to the judge Monday, arguing for some witnesses testimonies to be excluded.
The judge ruled in late September that SBF would be prevented from calling seven witnesses to the witness stand. This was in accordance with the Government’s request to stop the witnesses. A few witnesses could testify to counter the testimony of the prosecution’s witnesses. Defense team must file an application for approval and government can object.
Both the US Government and the Defense have been arguing about the plan of discovery outside the presence of witnesses. In August, it was reported that the US government had received millions documents via SBF’s Google Accounts.
The defense requested more discovery as part of its push for SBF release. Defense attorneys noted that these deliveries came after court-ordered deadlines — which prosecutors blamed on Google — and decried the process as “fundamentally unfair.”
Bankman Fried, who was sentenced on 14 August to seven counts of conspiracy and fraud charges had pleaded no contest.
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