Crypto fraud attorney Eugene Gorokhov, in a recent Law360 article, explains the impact of U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s ruling, which denied Bankman-Fried’s ‘advice of counsel’ defense and rejected every one of Bankman-Fried’s proposed expert witnesses.
The criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder of FTX, who faces seven charges of wire fraud and conspiracy, is currently ongoing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Attorney Gorokhov made the following statements:
But if Bankman-Fried can show “that lawyers were present for certain meetings or discussions and show why this is relevant to the defense, the burden is on the government to show that this evidence should be excluded.”
“Preventing jurors from hearing that FTX attorneys were present for certain discussions that are relevant to Bankman-Fried’s argument that he acted in good faith could arguably violate his constitutional right to present a defense.”
“One core purpose of cross-examination is to test witnesses’ memories and perceptions of events they are testifying about,” Gorokhov said. “This would surely include the right to ask about who was present for key meetings and discussions and what they said or did.”
Read the entire article by Phillip Bantz, Law360. (Article PDF)