A U.S. judge on Thursday restricted Sam Bankman-Fried’s ability to call expert witnesses to testify at his criminal fraud trial, in a blow to the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder.
Bankman-Fried wanted to call seven experts on topics such as cryptocurrency markets and English contracts, to convince jurors to acquit him of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund.
But in a written order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said three proposed witnesses cannot take the stand, because their testimony was irrelevant or could confuse the jury.
He also said Bankman-Fried may seek to call the remaining four experts, but only to rebut prosecution witnesses.
Source: Bankman-Fried’s expert witnesses rejected by judge | Reuters
