A challenge for the plaintiffs of FTX and other high-profile crypto-businesses: Genesis, Genesis, and Bankman-Fried

In the state of New York, where the founder of FTX is currently standing trial for fraud, the attorney general has accused a further three high-profile crypto businesses of lying to their customers. The Winklevoss twins’ digital currency exchange, as well as Genesis and Digital Currency Group, were charged with causing $1 billion in losses for hundreds of thousands of investors.

Genesis was caught in a blowback and had to file for bankruptcy just two months later, which left about $900 million of customers’ money out of reach.

In a case like this, though, says Joshua Naftalis, a former US prosecutor and partner at law firm Pallas Partners, where the evidence against the defendant seems “unbelievably overwhelming,” the defense isn’t expected to have it easy. It is “unfair,” therefore, to suggest Bankman-Fried’s counsel is “fumbling it,” says Naftalis. “They have been dealt a challenging hand.”

Gary Wang was the only person to leave the stand unscathed. On October 17, the defense scored only minor points against Nishad Singh, FTX director of engineering, who had testified to his distress at the reckless spending of FTX, but also, Cohen pointed out, took a large personal loan from the company after having discovered the alleged theft of customer funds.