Molly White's Citation Needed - The FTX trial, day one: Jury selected in Sam Bankman-Fried case

Episode Date: November 29, 2023

The death penalty is not on the table, the judge reassured one prospective juror. Originally published on October 5, 2023.

I'm Molly White, and you're listening to the audio feed of the citation-needed newsletter. You can see the text version of the newsletter online at newsletter.mollywhite.net. Jury selected in Sam Bankman-Fraid case. The death penalty is not on the table, the judge reassured one prospective juror. This issue was originally published on October 5, 2023. A few moments broke the typical TDM of the jury selection process, as the trial kicked off to determine if Sam Bankman-Fried is guilty of fraud in the $8 billion collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency empire.

Amidst boilerplate questions about medical conditions or life circumstances that might prevent candidates from serving for the planned six-week-long trial, Judge Kaplan probed them on their involvement with finance, cryptocurrency, and the companies at the heart of this case. Several of the jurors responded in the affirmative when asked if they or members of their family ever traded cryptocurrency. Win or lose, asked the judge. All of them had lost money. I invested in crypto. I did lose a lot, said one candidate. My twin brother invested even more, and it did finally ruin him. He wasn't selected. Other jurors expressed strong dislike for cryptocurrency. I'm not sure I could. could be totally unbiased about crypto, given the history and everything negative I've heard about it,

said one. Others confessed to being baffled about the concept in general, including one who'd tried to have his son explain it, and still came away feeling foggy. You probably have a lot of company in this courtroom, replied Kaplan, who also explained that strong feelings about cryptocurrency would not be relevant to the case. One juror expressed that the case reminded him of the 2008-to-2009 Bernie-Madoff case, in which the mastermind of a $65 billion Ponzi scheme ultimately received the maximum sentence of 150 years in prison. Judge Kaplan quickly called a sidebar, likely concerned that such a comparison might bias other jurors and dismiss the candidate. Many of them had connections to the finance industry, which is perhaps.

unsurprising for a trial taking place in Manhattan. One prospective juror, not ultimately selected, worked for a company that had lost money in FTX. One candidate worried that she might not be able to reach a guilty verdict if it meant Bankman Freed might be sentenced to death. Although judges normally stressed to jurors that they must render judgment regardless of the possible sentencing, Kaplan reassured her that a death sentence was not among the possible outcomes of this case. Jury selection spilled over into day two of the case, but by Wednesday morning, the 12-person panel with six alternates, was decided.

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