In Bankman-Fried Trial Ellison All Hands Audio Intro-ed by Drappi as Judge Throws SBF a Bone
by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Oct 12 – For US v Bankman-Fried, after more than a day of jury selection, late morning on October 4 the twelve and six alternate were selected. Inner City Press live tweeted the voir dire here and more below
On Thursday, October 12 after Caroline Ellison, the prosecutors put on the stand another Alameda employee, Christian Drappi, to authenticate the "all-hands" meeting audio. Inner City Press live tweeted, thread:
SBF lawyer Everdell: She went beyond the scope of the agency
AUSA: Ms. Ellison said she would always defer to Sam. Here Mr. Bankman-Fried was aware she was going to have this meeting. He did not seek to remove her at CEO - instead he provided input. So she was his agent
SBF's lawyer Everdell: Your Honor, you have a transcript binder --
Judge Kaplan: I have enough binders here to go into business... We're going to have a recess here in a moment. Let me know when I come back.
Everdell: We have our own clips.
They're back - but still neither the jury nor new witness are in.
SBF's lawyer: We want to get in the clip about crypto lending being the West West, no one checked your balance sheet AUSA: We don't want it in, pursuant to your ruling - gullibility is not relevant
Judge Kaplan: I'll let the defense play clip 415B after the government plays their clips. The next witness is going to be who?
AUSA: Christian Drappi. Jury entering!
AUSA: Where did you work a year ago? Drappi: Alameda Research, as a software engineer
AUSA: How did you communicate with the traders? Drappi: On Signal and Slack. AUSA: After the defendant, who were the CEOs of Alameda? Drappi: Caroline Ellison and John Samuel Trabucco
AUSA: Who did they report to? Drappi: Sam Bankman-Fried.
SBF's lawyer: Objection, basis of knowledge.
Judge Kaplan: I'll allow it but why are we doing this? Tempus fugit. AUSA: Was it true that Bankman-Fried was not running Alameda in May 2022? SBF's lawyer: Objection! Judge Kaplan: Sustained.
AUSA: Did you see the defendant? Drappi: Yes, he worked 40 feet from me. And at social events, like tennis. AUSA: So the defendant's tweet that he didn't run Alameda anymore was not true? SBF's lawyer: Objection! Sidebar ensues...
AUSA: As a software engineer could you see who had access to Alameda? Drappi: Yes. And Mr. Bankman-Fried had access. AUSA: How did you know he was directing the trade of Japanese bonds? Drappi: Ben Xie told me Sam was behind it. SBF's lawyer: Objection! Overruled
AUSA: Let's turn to November 2022. Where were you? Drappi: In the new Hong Kong office. Caroline Ellison was there. SBF's lawyer: Date and time? Drappi: November 8. At 11 pm HK time. Tony Qian said he saw Sam's tweet about Binance buying FTX. I was shocked
Drappi: Tony said it as a question to Caroline -- SBF's lawyer: Hearsay! Judge Kaplan: I'll consider a limiting instruction. AUSA: Sidebar? Judge Kaplan (sighing) Alright. Sidebar...
Judge Kaplan: This is for prior consistent statement. AUSA: Who recorded the all-hands meeting? Drappi: Rick Best. He had started at Alameda three days before this. He gave me the recording. AUSA: Here's a CD, have you reviewed it? Drappi: Yes. It's audio clips.
Audio of Caroline Ellison, with buzz behind: Ellison: You guy have probably seen this on Slack or Twitter...
Back in the courtroom: AUSA: Who asked Ms. Ellison if there was a plan to repay customers? Drappi: I did. AUSA: What did you mean when you said, That sounds pretty bad? SBF's lawyer: Objection! Judg eKaplan: Sustained.
AUSA: Mr. Drappi, I'm sure it wasn't a YOLO thing, what does YOLO mean? Drappi: You Only Live Once. Audio: Ellison: FTX like always allowed Alameda to borrow user funds..
In courtroom: AUSA: Who asked about it? Drappi: Diana Ma. She is a shy person. I resigned in 24 hours. AUSA: No further question. Judge Kaplan: Mr. Everdell? SBF's Everdell: You were surprised it was Binance? Drappi: Yes - it was FTX's main competitor, the leader
SBF's Everdell: And later in the meeting, Ms. Ellison laughed?
Drappi: She did.
Everdell: No further questions.
Inner City Press live tweeted the voir dire and now, more on Substack here
and all on Patreon here
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