In five hours of cross-examination, SBF's lawyer did not elicit any revelations or inconsistencies from Caroline Ellison, who said SBF made “terrible mistakes”
because SBF had over $10 billion in assets in FTX equity. Teddy Schleifer / @teddyschleifer : But shortly before 3 p.m., Caroline Ellison left the courtroom. She did not make any eye contact with Sam. The look on her face as she walked down the aisle after 10+ hours of testimony was of some pain. It almost looked like she wanted to go puke. Or at least run away. @innercitypress : @AlamedaTrabucco 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 Teddy Schleifer / @teddyschleifer : The TLDR is that if you thought that Sam Bankman-Fried's team was going to absolutely light up Caroline Ellison today, you were wrong. Tiffany Fong / @tiffanyfong_ : In audio of a November 9, 2022 all-hands meeting played in court, Caroline Ellison admitted Alameda Research borrowed funds from FTX customers to repay loans. She then stated that Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh & Gary Wang were aware of this & that it was Sam's decision. Tom Mitchelhill / @thecryptojourno : Just listened to the entire 70+ minute recording of Alameda's infamous all-hands meeting on Nov. 9 last year. Caroline Ellison's incompetence on full display + the nonchalance in which she discusses the insanity of FTX / Alameda's accounting is legitimately breathtaking. Nu Wexler / @wexler : So Sam Bankman-Fried leaked Caroline Ellison's private diary entries to The NY Times and it got him ... thrown in jail and pissed off the government's star witness against him. Teddy Schleifer / @teddyschleifer : In the closely-watched chronology of FTX's collapse, it is pretty incredible that the November 2022 FBI raid of Caroline Ellison's parents' rural home never leaked. Ash Bennington / @ashbennington : One of the most consistently bizarre and fascinating aspects of the SBF saga is the constant reemergence of the utilitarian / EA narrative — described here in @Wired's account yesterday of Caroline Ellison's testimony. [image] Molly White / @molly0xfff : I finally got hold of the government exhibit that SBF's lawyers worried prosecutors were using just to “show that he's some sort of crazy person” https://mollywhite.net/... [image] Molly White / @molly0xfff : wow, i was expecting WAY more from the defense's cross-examination of caroline ellison. it seems like there was very little in the way of trying to impeach her credibility, and though they hinted they would try to pin the collapse on her, very little of that came out in cross
New York Times
Context & Ripple Effects
Ellison’s direct testimony had already placed Bankman-Fried at the center of decisions to use customer funds through Alameda, including her account that he directed the conduct. Related coverage also described her as portraying him as FTX’s ultimate decision-maker and a corrupting influence on colleagues.
The defense cross-examination was a key test of whether that account could be materially weakened. Its failure to surface a reported inconsistency leaves the trial’s central contest focused on the credibility of cooperating insiders and the documentary record around them.
First-order effects
Ellison’s testimony emerges from cross-examination without a reported new contradiction, preserving its immediate value to prosecutors’ case against Bankman-Fried.
The defense has less basis, from this exchange alone, to recast Ellison’s account of allegedly concealed Alameda debt as unreliable or internally inconsistent.
Second-order effects
Other insider testimony from former FTX and Alameda executives becomes harder to isolate as merely personal grievance when Ellison’s account remains intact under extended questioning.
The trial’s evidentiary emphasis shifts further toward whether Bankman-Fried’s stated awareness of FTX’s finances can outweigh accounts tying him to operational decisions.
Third-order effects
If insider accounts and internal financial evidence continue to align, the case reinforces how concentrated control and weak separation between affiliated trading and customer-facing businesses can turn governance failures into individual liability.
The broader lesson for crypto platforms is that informal executive control over customer assets and related-party financing can be scrutinized through both internal records and cooperating witnesses.
The trend: The case is part of a wider move from crypto’s founder-led, opaque operating structures toward accountability centered on custody controls, related-party boundaries, and executive decision trails.
Trabucco could have (and likely did) architected a lot of this alongside SBF but he likely got immunity so i don't expect his name to come up a lot in court prosecutors have to try the case against the Sam they have not the one they let go scot-free with 8-to-9 figs
Just before trial started, prosecutors said there was no plea offer (also, that SBF's lawyers did not seek to talk about a plea offer). What are they thinking now? This year I covered a SDNY trial in which a defendant pled guilty after a witness- his girlfriend...
lmao if SBF thought forbes has any kind of good reputation left that people care about. it's literally a platform that will let anyone who pays blog on it. i have never heard any evidence that SBF is a moron stronger than this
SBF was staring daggers at Caroline during every sidebar today. She would just look down at her lap. I wouldn't call it intimidation but you could feel the tension...
The most offensive thing here is SBF thinking that uncanny valleys are waveforms rather than quintic functions That and his misspelling “vallies” The king of the left curve, convinced he's the king of the right
What I'm saying is none of them (Caroline/Gary/Nishad) are even a little bit innocent and they are all, to varying degrees, bad people. Don't let justifiable hatred of SBF obscure that fact Otherwise you're falling into the apologists' “they were just kids over their skis” bit
Audio of Caroline Ellison, with buzz behind: Ellison: You guy have probably seen this on Slack or Twitter... [Aim to get the audio clip and upload it later, maybe to Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/...
SBF's Cohen: What happened after the meeting? Ellison: Can you get more specific? Cohen: That's fair. A lot of things happened. Did you tell the employees about wrongdoing? Ellison: Yes. Cohen: May I have a moment? [Confers with SBF] I have nothing further [!]
Utilitarianism takes a huge hit. “Caroline Ellison said that SBF was a utilitarian ... He didn't think that rules like “don't lie” and “don't steal” fit into that framework.”
Matt Levine on FTX's seven balance sheets: “If you prepare SEVEN BALANCE SHEETS and your boss is like 'let's go with Alternative 7' then one of you is going to prison absolutely forever. Caroline Ellison smartly decided it wasn't going to be her.” [image]
SBF's lawyer tried to get Caroline Ellison to admit that this famous November 6, 2022 tweet was basically true — because SBF had over $10 billion in assets in FTX equity.
But shortly before 3 p.m., Caroline Ellison left the courtroom. She did not make any eye contact with Sam. The look on her face as she walked down the aisle after 10+ hours of testimony was of some pain. It almost looked like she wanted to go puke. Or at least run away.
@AlamedaTrabucco 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
In audio of a November 9, 2022 all-hands meeting played in court, Caroline Ellison admitted Alameda Research borrowed funds from FTX customers to repay loans. She then stated that Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh & Gary Wang were aware of this & that it was Sam's decision.
Just listened to the entire 70+ minute recording of Alameda's infamous all-hands meeting on Nov. 9 last year. Caroline Ellison's incompetence on full display + the nonchalance in which she discusses the insanity of FTX / Alameda's accounting is legitimately breathtaking.
So Sam Bankman-Fried leaked Caroline Ellison's private diary entries to The NY Times and it got him ... thrown in jail and pissed off the government's star witness against him.
In the closely-watched chronology of FTX's collapse, it is pretty incredible that the November 2022 FBI raid of Caroline Ellison's parents' rural home never leaked.
One of the most consistently bizarre and fascinating aspects of the SBF saga is the constant reemergence of the utilitarian / EA narrative — described here in @Wired's account yesterday of Caroline Ellison's testimony. [image]
I finally got hold of the government exhibit that SBF's lawyers worried prosecutors were using just to “show that he's some sort of crazy person” https://mollywhite.net/... [image]
wow, i was expecting WAY more from the defense's cross-examination of caroline ellison. it seems like there was very little in the way of trying to impeach her credibility, and though they hinted they would try to pin the collapse on her, very little of that came out in cross