(One Part of) SBF’s Defense Strategy Starts Paying Off

All three of Sam Bankman-Fried’s “inner circle” members have now testified against the FTX founder, and all three have presented similarly on the witness stand: clearly rehearsed, adamant that the FTX founder was in charge and careful not to stray too far from their well-practiced narratives. They were confident when responding to prosecutors, but were less polished when confronted by the defense.

Each of the insiders have pleaded guilty to their own charges – complicating the case for Bankman-Fried, but also for their own credibility; staying in prosecutors’ good graces could help them secure a lighter sentence. Two of them, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, testified that they hoped to get zero prison time.

At the heart of prosecutors’ case against Bankman-Fried is a straightforward sequence of events: He took customers’ money even after promising not to – then lost it all. It’s a tight story, and Bankman-Fried’s defense attorneys have struggled to weave together any semblance of a narrative to dispute it.

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The hard facts of the case, combined with the guilty pleas and insider testimony (at least five former employees have testified or will testify for the prosecution before the end of the trial) have made it difficult for Bankman-Fried’s lawyers to mount a compelling case.

But the Bankman-Fried defense team, led by attorney Mark Cohen, does have a strategy: If certain core facts of the FTX saga can’t be disputed, they can at least be reframed. What if everything Bankman-Fried did was, in the words of Cohen’s opening statement, “completely reasonable?”

And while they did not state this explicitly, the cross-examinations of Singh, Wang, Caroline Ellison and Adam Yedidia – FTX insiders whose recollections were tested, and whose past statements were probed for inconsistencies — revealed another element of the defense’s strategy: If witnesses cannot be wholly discredited, the defense can at least sow doubt in their memories and their credibility.

SBF defense lawyer Cohen’s strategy

Cohen only needs to provide jurors with “reasonable doubt.” A single…