Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has raised concerns about biased jury questions in his upcoming fraud trial. Bankman-Fried's attorney, Mark Cohen, filed a court document on September 29 arguing that the questions proposed by the U.S. government for jury selection could lead to an unfair trial.
Cohen expressed that the government's approach discourages potential jurors from providing full disclosure, doesn't extract enough information for the defense to assess potential bias, and risks prejudicing the jury by framing the charges in a manner that assumes Bankman-Fried's guilt.
He specifically pointed out that the language used in the jury questions implied Bankman-Fried's fraud as a fact rather than an alleged behavior. Cohen stressed that it's essential for the court to remind potential jurors that Bankman-Fried is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Cohen also argued that the court should have considered the pretrial motion filed by Bankman-Fried, but the U.S. government had previously objected to the questions raised in that motion, deeming them unnecessary and time-consuming.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on October 3, followed by the trial on October 4. The trial calendar indicates there will be 15 full trial days in October and six in November. Bankman-Fried has been in detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center since August 11, with Judge Lewis Kaplan consistently denying his requests for temporary release to prepare for the trial.
