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Policy
Sam Bankman-Fried Now Has a Jury
A federal judge picked a dozen New Yorkers to try the FTX founder on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Updated Oct 5, 2023, 12:45 p.m. Published Oct 4, 2023, 3:34 p.m.
A physician’s assistant, a librarian, a nurse and nine others will decide if Sam Bankman-Fried committed fraud.
Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday announced a 12-person jury that will determine the former FTX CEO’s fate in a criminal case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Jury selection wrapped up early in the trial’s second day.
Read all of CoinDesk's SBF trial coverage here.
During voir dire, just under 50 people told the courtroom their ages, occupations, educational backgrounds, and other details. The potential jurors included a former prosecutor, a retired corrections officer, a flight attendant and multiple employees of the Metro-North commuter rail line.
To some, the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried has become by proxy a trial of the whole crypto industry following the excesses that led to last year’s crash. To insiders, the centralized and opaque FTX exchange embodied everything crypto was supposed to stand against, and Bankman-Fried is merely the most famous and wiliest of a long line of tourists who enter the market during bull runs and ruin it for everyone.
Opening statements are expected to begin momentarily.
Nikhilesh De
Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, covering regulators, lawmakers and institutions. When he's not reporting on digital assets and policy, he can be found admiring Amtrak or building LEGO trains. He owns < $50 in BTC and < $20 in ETH. He was named the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers' Journalist of the Year in 2020.
