A federal judge issued a key evidentiary ruling on Tuesday that sheds light on the strategies the Justice Department and Sam Bankman-Fried will employ in the forthcoming trial of the disgraced FTX founder, which is set to begin next week.
In a 16-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan agreed to let the prosecution present evidence to the jury that Bankman-Fried sought to bribe a Chinese official in hopes of getting access to $1 billion in funds the country had frozen. While the government has not charged Bankman-Fried with a crime in relation to the alleged incident in the upcoming trial, Kaplan found evidence about the bribe could support allegations about his motive for looting customer funds.
