Summarize in up to four sentences.: Bankman-Fried faces key decision on testifying in FTX trial
Seana Smith and Eyek Ntekim
Mon, October 23, 2023 at 10:47 a.m. EDT
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FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial is set to resume on Thursday, October 26. With prosecutors expected to rest their case after a series of testimonies from SBF's inner circle, all eyes are on the former crypto CEO on whether he will take the stand to testify.

Yahoo Finance Legal Reporter Alexis Keenan reports on what to expect for Thursday and the defense's possible next moves.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Video Transcript
BRAD SMITH: We've got to shift gears as the criminal fraud trial against FTX crypto exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried is heading into its final stages following nearly 20 witnesses for the prosecution. That means it's nearly time for Bankman-Fried to decide if he will take the stand. Yahoo Finance's Alexis Keenan joins us with the details. Hi, Alexis. Thanks so much for joining us here this morning. Help us break this down just a little bit more

ALEXIS KEENAN: Sir, hi, guys. So the Manhattan trial, it will resume on Thursday, and that's when the government is expected to rest its case. And it's by then that the former crypto king will have to decide and make that fateful decision whether to testify in his own defense or say nothing in response to his handpicked executives at FTX and its sister hedge fund Alameda, who all took the stand and said they helped Bankman-Fried commit multiple felonies.

Their story is that FTX customer funds were spent on speculative crypto trading, also luxury real estate, and political donations.

Now, criminal defense experts, they caution that very few criminal defendants actually take the stand and that's because of the high risks of cross-examination. On one hand, testifying would allow Bankman-Fried to say he didn't intend to put customer funds in jeopardy. He could also even try to put blame on his former colleagues, saying that it was their fault that they did not secure the funds.

But in doing so, he's also going to have to explain as CEO of FTX why he risked $8 billion, and he knew about that as of June 2022.

Now, legal experts also say that it's more typical that a defendant will not testify when they think the government has not met its burden to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Now so far, these witnesses, they've been damning against Bankman-Fried. It's through their version of the story, though. So on the other hand, you have Bankman-Fried's company policy to use self-deleting messaging apps.

So a lot less documentation, a lot evidentiary documents for the prosecution to work with in this case, though, there were a lot of preserved-- a limited number I should say, of preserved messaging apps, Google documents, and other things that the witnesses were able to point to.

But remember Bankman-Fried also made that very unusual choice as FTX was imploding to post on Twitter, to talk to media and interviews. All of that coming back to haunt him at this trial. But we should learn at least by Thursday whether he is going to make the decision to actually speak on his own behalf. But that's his take, guys.

SEANA SMITH: And, Alexa, thanks so much for that. Certainly something that we will be keeping a close eye on.