Transcript Ep. 553: Did Sam Bankman-Fried Have Intent to Defraud FTX Investors?

Joshua Ashley Klayman, Senior Counsel, U.S. Head of FinTech and Head of Blockchain & Digital Assets at Linklaters, discusses the prosecution and defense’s impassioned opening statements and surprising

Joshua Ashley Klayman:

But I think for the prosecution, I mean, what they're trying to show is no matter that it's a highly technical area, the allegations are this is simple fraud, right? This is untruths. This is misstatements and this is inducing people to trust or to invest or do other things on false pretenses.

Laura Shin:

Hi everyone, welcome to Unchained, your no-hype resource for all things crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin, author of The Cryptopians. I started covering crypto eight years ago and as the senior editor at Forbes was the first mainstream media reporter to cover cryptocurrency full-time. This is the October 6th, 2023 episode of Unchained.

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Today's guest is Joshua Klayman, Senior Counsel, U.S. Head of FinTech and Head of Blockchain & Digital Assets at Linklaters. Welcome Josh.

Joshua Ashley Klayman:

Thanks, Laura. It's great to be here.

Laura Shin:

This week saw the beginning of the criminal trial of the United States vs Sam Bankman-Fried. We are recording on Thursday afternoon, and you and I were together in the courtroom, or at least in the overflow room, I guess. So what are your biggest takeaways from the trial so far?

Joshua Ashley Klayman: