The prosecution offered its closing arguments at present as Sam Bankman-Fried drew nearer to discovering out whether or not the jury believes he carried out the seven expenses alleged by the federal government. They embrace securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to launder cash.

Assistant US lawyer Nicolas Roos began by describing the desperation of individuals attempting and failing to withdraw their nest eggs from the FTX change in November 2022 as phrase of the corporate’s troubles unfold. “Who was accountable? This man, Samuel Bankman-Fried,” Roos mentioned. “He spent his prospects’ cash, and he lied to them about it.” Roos described Bankman-Fried’s initiatives as “a pyramid of deceit.”

The trial has at instances delved into the arcana of cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and monetary derivatives. Roos urged the jury to disregard these complexities. “This isn’t about difficult problems with cryptocurrency,” he mentioned. “It is about deception, it is about lies, it is about stealing, it is about greed.”

He went on to argue that the testimony of Bankman-Fried’s former mates and coworkers, and paperwork and information from FTX, confirmed that he had directed the corporate to misuse buyer funds, in full information that it was improper. Roos ended by coming again to the place his closing argument began—with the alleged victims of FTX’s collapse. “On a regular basis folks misplaced financial savings, firms went bankrupt, all due to this defendant’s fraud, as a result of he needed extra money to do no matter he needed with,” Roos mentioned, asking the jury to seek out Bankman-Fried responsible on all counts.