Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried

Overview

Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried refers to the fraud trial of former crypto investor and creator of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried who was also known as SBF. The trial, seen as the final step of the collapse of FTX and crypto as a whole, started the process on October 3rd and is a non-media allowed trial, unlike previous high profile trials like Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp and Trial of Kyle Rittenhouse.

Background

Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator and owner of both Alameda and FTX, is accused of multiple counts of fraud in connection to FTX, his crypto company. Bankman-Fried, who has plead not guilty, is accused of directly stealing money from customers to pay for various personal things, family members, and funneling money directly into his other company, Alameda. On the day of the trial starting, the X user @Zowae^[1] uploaded a video showcasing some of the background to the trial (shown below).

Developments

Court Sketches

Being a federal court, cameras were not allowed in it, meaning that all visuals come from the courtroom sketch artist. This has lead to people posting the sketches and either criticizing the sketch artist, noting personal liberties taken with it, or laughing at how certain people are portrayed. On October 11th, 2023, Caroline Ellison gave her testimony, and when the courtroom sketches were posted online people were quick to jump on them. X user @Molly0xFFF^[2] posted two zoomed in images of the sketches made of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison that day, postulating that the sketch artist has a personal vendetta against the two for how they are portrayed (shown below).

Later that day, X user @Dannyjokes^[3] noted that the courtroom sketch artist made Caroline Ellison look eerily similar to the Subway Ghost character from the Patrick Swayze movie Ghost, while posting an image of both the sketch and the character from a similar angle (shown below).

Online Reactions

Similar to previous trials, the social media app TikTok has become a place where various content creators share their own personal recaps of the trial day-by-day, and add in their own interpretation of things that were said. On October 11th, 2023, the TikToker @tiffanfong_^[4] uploaded a TikTok in which she goes over part of Caroline Ellison's testimony, specifically the part in which Sam Bankman-Fried told her that he wanted to become the President of the United States, which she heard because she claims to be attending the trial publicly every day (shown below).

Search Interest

External References