Cohen broke the case up into two time periods. The first was 2019 to 2021, when there’s no indication of criminal intent. Up until June 2022, everyone involved thought they were operating the most successful crypto exchange in the world, Cohen said.
The second period was from June to November of 2022. Crypto winter had led to the failure of a number of businesses in the industry. That’s the first time it became clear that Alameda was using customer funds. In the fall of that year, Bankman-Fried saw a liquidity problem, not a solvency problem, Cohen said. He always thought there were sufficient funds on and off the exchange.
While FTX’s lack of a risk management system or chief risk officer reflected poor system controls, bad business decisions aren’t crimes, Cohen said.
Source: Sam Bankman-Fried lawyer says government portrayed FTX founder as a ‘monster
