Partner Brian Klein Speaks to Bloomberg about Sam Bankman-Fried Testifying at His Criminal Trial

Interviewed for a Bloomberg.com story October 25, 2003 about Sam Bankman-Fried taking the stand in his own defense, after numerous witnesses implicated him in defrauding investors and customers of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX out of billions, Partner Brian Klein said, “He couldn’t stop talking to the press and wider world after FTX collapsed and before he was arrested and then while out on bail so no one should be surprised that he is choosing to take the stand.”

Three of Bankman-Fried’s closest former employees, Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang plead guilty to fraud, cooperated with federal prosecutors, and gave searing testimony portraying the former crypto mogul as the criminal mastermind. A former federal prosecutor, Klein said after those witnesses, Bankman-Fried’s testimony will be “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”

The 31-year-old Bankman-Fried is facing decades in prison if convicted.