AP Photo/Seth Wenig
- Sam Bankman-Fried's defense attorneys have argued that FTX's collapse is complicated and he didn't know everything.
- They've argued his ex-friends who pleaded guilty just want a lighter sentence.
- But all of Bankman-Fried's lieutenants and former friends have implicated him in the scheme to take customer funds.
During opening statements at Sam Bankman-Fried's trial, it quickly became clear that prosecutors and his defense attorneys had very different approaches.
Prosecutors told a simple story of straightforward theft. Bankman-Fried, they alleged, stole funds deposited by customers of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, by moving it to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and took out loans for his own benefit.