Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, will begin his criminal trial on Oct. 4, with proceedings expected to end on Nov. 9, as per documents released on the court docket.
Jury selection will take place on Oct. 3, and seven fraud charges against Bankman-Fried will be brought up in court the following day.
During the jury selection process, the judge will ask potential jurors a number of questions, including if any of them had an FTX account. If the defense and prosecution fight over each juror, however, the process could take several days.
After the trial begins, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will make its opening statements, which will likely include audio recordings. In a court document submitted on Sept. 15, prosecutors requested the provision of individual audio headsets for the jury.
The jurors will have a particularly important role to play – if just one juror doesn’t stand convinced that Bankman-Fried is guilty of the charges, the former FTX CEO might not be convicted in his criminal trial, which requires a unanimous verdict.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried awaits his trial behind bars as Judge Lewis Kaplan denied three bids for his temporary release. However, Kaplan granted his defense team permission to meet with him at 7:00 a.m. every day of the trial.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and faces a maximum sentence of over 100 years in prison if convicted.
