Bankman-Fried Objected By DOJ To Effective Altruism Unnecessarily Intruded On Litigation

Key Points:

• The US Department of Justice is concerned about the defense team’s jury questions in the trial of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
• The defense queried jurors on case familiarity and altruism understanding.
• Trial begins Oct 3, six charges dropped.

The US Department of Justice has expressed concerns over the proposed jury questions presented by the defense team of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), labeling them as “unnecessarily intrusive” and potentially intended to bolster his defense.

In preparation for next month’s trial, prosecutors have contested the questions put forth by SBF’s legal counsel regarding the “effective altruism” movement.

During this week, the defense team of SBF questioned prospective jurors about their acquaintance with the case, their comprehension of effective altruism, and their experience with behaviors associated with ADHD. These inquiries were meant to help the prosecution and defense choose a jury that would be fair.

In contrast, the prosecution said in a letter to New York Southern District Judge Lewis Kaplan that the defense’s demands went beyond the bounds of pre-trial review and included open-ended inquiries regarding the jurors’ opinions of the case, the defendant, and his firm.

Moreover, the prosecution said that these inquiries were an oblique effort to support a narrative that portrayed Bankman-Fried as someone who was trying to “improve the world” via his fortune. They emphasized that voir dire, the process of jury selection, was not the appropriate forum to suggest such notions to the jury.

SBF’s legal team had also proposed questions touching on topics like the effective altruism movement, body language, and political donations. Prosecutors criticized these questions as intrusive and not pertinent to the trial.

The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to commence on October 3, according to Judge Lewis Kaplan’s recent order. Initially charged with 13 counts, six of those charges, including the violation of campaign finance rules, were dropped by the prosecution as they were not part of the US government’s extradition agreement with the Bahamas government.

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