FTX founder acknowledges mistakes, denies fraud

The cryptocurrency exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Friday took the witness stand at his trial in New York to deny that he defrauded any of his former company’s customers. He acknowledged making mistakes and that customers and employees suffered harm. He said he thought his company would become the best cryptocurrency product available, but acknowledged that it morphed into “basically the opposite of that.”

What is the fraud that he’s denying? Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars from customers’ accounts at his company and used them for risky investments and campaign donations. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five conspiracy charges. If convicted, he could spend decades behind bars.

Dig deeper: Listen to Nick Eicher’s discussion with David Bahnsen on The World and Everything in It podcast about whether FTX’s downfall represents a systemic cryptocurrency issue or just one bad apple.