Sam Bankman-Fried's father and brother, along with Donald Trump's former spokesman Anthony Scaramucci, might be called as witnesses in the fraud case against the cryptocurrency exchange founder, according to a list read out in court on 3 October.
Prosecutor Danielle Sassoon read a list of dozens of names, including potential prosecution and defense witnesses, to see if potential jurors knew them.
US authorities are trying to determine whether Bankman-Fried is guilty of a massive fraud involving more than a million customers. If convicted, Bankman-Fried, 31, faces up to 10 years in prison. Federal prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried defrauded FTX customers from the time the company started in 2019 until its bankruptcy.
Appearing before Judge Lewis A Kaplan in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, the defendant maintained that he was not involved in defrauding FTX customers and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Founded by Bankman-Fried in 2019, FTX became one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. It filed for bankruptcy on 11 November 2022, leaving an estimated one million customers facing billions of dollars in losses.
In December, the US government indicted Bankman-Fried in what prosecutors called one of the largest financial fraud cases in US history. Prosecutors allege that FTX violated US campaign finance laws and schemed to misappropriate customer funds.