Sam Bankman-Fried Set To Take Stand In Criminal Trial, Confirms Defense Attorney Cohen

Sam Bankman-Fried, the embattled crypto mogul who founded the once-billion-dollar crypto empire FTX, will testify in his own criminal trial starting Thursday, as confirmed by defense attorney Mark Cohen, after three witnesses have been called by the defense team.

Bankman-Fried, whose case has faced intense scrutiny due to explosive testimonies from former colleagues in recent weeks, will take the stand following the testimony of three defense witnesses.

"We're going to present three witnesses before calling our client," Cohen said during a Wednesday conference call, as reported by Inner City Press.

Cohen also mentioned that Bankman-Fried may begin his testimony around mid-day Thursday, and he anticipates that the direct examination will be of a similar length to that of Caroline Ellison.

Bankman-Fried, once hailed as the "golden boy of crypto," founded the crypto derivatives exchange FTX and the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, both of which are now bankrupt. He is accused of misappropriating billions of customers' funds and has been accused by his inner circle of masterminding a scheme to misuse the funds of customers, investors, and lenders.

In most cases, the defense avoids putting defendants on the stand, which is based on the belief that it could cause more harm than good.

However, in Bankman-Fried's criminal trial, it is considered his legal team's final defense option, especially after hearing the damning testimonies of his ex-girlfriend and former Alameda Research CEO Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wand and FTX director of engineering Nishad Singh.

During his trial, Bankman-Fried, who used to live in luxurious penthouses costing millions of dollars, spent his nights at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which, according to his lawyers has intermittent access to the computer files needed to prepare the crypto mogul for his trial.