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Sam Bankman-Fried made several statements Thursday about the downfall of his crypto trading platform FTX while the jury was being sent home. It is one of the biggest scandals in young crypto history.

Bankman-Fried (31) is suspected of diverting customer funds to his investment fund Alameda Research.

Prosecutors also suspect him of illegal political donations and real estate purchases with customers' money.

Sam Bankman-Fried began testifying at his criminal trial Thursday without jurors present, an unusual move by the judge who wanted to hear his remarks first to see if they were admissible.

Bankman-Fried blamed FTX's lawyers. His outside general counsel had led him to automatically delete things in Signal, the messaging app FTX used internally for communications. Bankman-Fried also said his lawyers were behind FTX's terms of service and banking agreement with Alameda, Bankman-Fried's trading company.

His answers were long and meandering - phrased in terms such as "probably," "I think" and "to my best judgment. At times, Bankman-Fried claimed that his recollection of events leading up to the collapse of FTX was foggy.

Things are not looking good for him. Several former employees have made incriminating statements in recent weeks.

SBF was the founder of FTX, by far the world's largest cryptocurrency trading platform. Millions of customers bought crypto coins on the platform. Investors like Black Rock and Softbank pumped millions into FTX.

Meanwhile, the founder liked to surround himself with celebrities such as former supermodel Gisele Bundchen, racing driver Lewis Hamilton and football star Tom Brady.

That crypto exchange ran into trouble in November 2022 after many customers withdrew money at once. There were concerns about financial ties between FTX and hedge fund Alameda, which conducted risky transactions with FTX customers' money.

Supervisor John J. Ray III, who was appointed to oversee FTX as CEO, said he had never seen such a mess. Payment requests were approved with emojis and FTX funds were used to buy homes and other personal property for employees and advisers. 'Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of reliable financial information.'

Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX and a longtime friend of SBF, already admitted to fraud, referring to the special privileges available to Alameda Research. Former FTX developer Adam Yedidia resigned November 2022 after learning of the plan to defraud customers.

Former business partner and friend Caroline Ellison alleged that Alameda used some $10 billion from FTX customers to pay off loans.

Prosecutors in the criminal case denounced his luxury lifestyle by sharing photos of the penthouse in the Bahamas. The penthouse was worth at least $35 million.

If found guilty of fraud, Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison.

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon

During the criminal trial, a biography of Sam Bankman-Fried by Michael Lewis, who already followed him in good times, was published, Going Infinite.

From it emerges the picture of a Sunday child. He doesn't fit in at school, but studies at MIT anyway and makes a career at the exclusive trading firm Jane Street Capital.

Within a year, Bankman-Fried has outgrown conventional trading and leaves Jane Street to co-found his own hedge fund, Alameda. Followed in 2018 by his own trading exchange, which handles billions.

He decides to become an altruistic banker and give away all his wealth. Getting rich to save the world.

Bankman-Fried believes the only sane philosophy of life is utilitarianism, which, he tells the author, scares most people because it encourages altruism.

Salient detail: He considered offering Donald Trump $5 billion not to run for president.

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