Unchained

A 20+ Year Sentence? Why the Evidence Against SBF Was Too Hard to Overcome - Ep. 566

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In this episode of Unchained, Laura does a detailed unpacking of the historic Sam Bankman-Fried trial and verdict with defense lawyer Sam Enzer and former Southern District of New York prosecutor Rich Cooper. They discuss what a thorough job the government did in presenting its case, whether the government will pursue a second trial on campaign finance charges, why it takes so long for sentencing to occur, what the differences between this case and the Bernie Madoff case are, and what Bankman-Fried’s likely sentence will be. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights:
  • how the cross-examination of SBF showed to the jury that he was unreliable, according to Rich
  • why the charge conference with the jury is important to the prosecution for “protecting the record”
  • why the closing argument of the prosecutors was so effective 
  • what “conscious avoidance” is and how the prosecutors tried to prove that SBF was guilty of that
  • why SBF’s tweet last November that "FTX is fine" was the hardest part of the trial for the defense, according to Enzer
  • why Enzer wasn’t surprised by how quickly the jury made its decision 
  • what SBF’s strongest argument is for an appeal
  • why Enzer "hopes" that there won't be a second trial against SBF and whether he will plead guilty to the additional charges
  • why the sentencing occurs so many months after the verdict
  • how this case is similar, but also different, from the Bernie Madoff case
  • how many years SBF could spend in prison, according to Enzer and Cooper
  • when cooperating witnesses such as Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang are likely to get sentenced


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      • Guest:
      • Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel.
      • Previous appearances on Unchained: 
      • Why SBF's Testimony So Far Has Likely Already Doomed Him
      • Another Bad Week for Sam Bankman-Fried in His Criminal Trial
      • Why These Lawyers Say It's Over for SBF-But His Only Hail Mary Is to Testify
      • SBF Trial: How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Might Try and Win His Case
      • SBF’s Lawyers Could Be Annoying the Judge. How Might That Impact the Trial?
      • Rich Cooper, Former SDNY prosecutor
        Links
        • Previous coverage by Unchained on the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried:
        • How Heated Sidebars During the SBF Trial Could Impact the Jury’s Decision
        • SBF Trial, Day 1: Possible Witnesses Include FTX Insiders, Big Names in Crypto, and SBF’s Family
        • SBF Trial, Day 2: DOJ Says Sam Bankman-Fried ‘Lied’ While Defense Claims His Actions Were ‘Reasonable’
        • SBF Trial, Day 3: Why a True Believer in FTX Flipped Once He Learned One Fact
        • SBF Trial, Day 4: SBF’s Lawyers Annoy Judge Kaplan, While Wang Reveals Alameda’s Special Privileges
        • Sam Bankman-Fried Trial: Here's Everything That Happened So Far
        • SBF Trial, Day 5: SBF's Defense Finally Found Its Legs, But Can It Counter Caroline Ellison?

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          UnchainedBy Laura Shin