Emails show how Bankman-Fried toyed with Paradigm VCs, who had misgivings but gave him nearly $300 million anyway

Media encircle Matt Huang of Paradigm (Credit: Michael M. Santiago—Getty Images)

The ongoing fraud trial of Sam Bankman-Fried in New York has produced some remarkable witness testimony—including from his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison—but also new documents that provide an illuminating, and sometimes cringeworthy, look at how the FTX founder manipulated venture capital investors.

One of the more remarkable exhibits to emerge at trial is an email exchange between Bankman-Fried and the crypto fund Paradigm, which invested $278 million in the failed exchange—money that the fund has since "marked to zero," according to partner Matt Huang, who testified last week.