Key Insights:

• The infamous FTX court trial continued at Federal Court in New York City, U.S, on October 11, 2023, with fresh updates uncovered. 
• Court filings show that Sam-Bankman Fried believed Binance, led by CEO Chanpeng Zhao, had leaked Alameda’s balance sheet to the media in 2022.
• The leaked document triggered a bank run on FTX, leading to its collapse. 

Sam-Bankman Fried’s criminal court trial continued in New York on October 12, 2023. An FTX internal document was revealed during court proceedings showing Sam Bankman-Fried believed that Binance was responsible for leaking Alameda Research’s balance sheet to the media in 2022. 

Sam Bankman-Fried Accuses Binance of Leaking FTX Balance Sheet

The document was presented in court as a part of evidence in the ongoing criminal trial against Sam Bankman-Fried. 

According to the document, SBF wrote that Binance was engaging in a PR campaign against FTX. 

“Binance leaked a balance sheet; blogged about it; fed it to Coindesk; then announced very publicly that they were selling $500m of FTT in response to it while telling customers to be wary of FTX.”, SBF added. 

SBF’s outburst was in reference to the infamous article published by CoinDesk on  Nov. 2, 2022.  Notably, CoinDesk reported that figures from Alameda’s balance sheet had shown that the the firm was “possibly not in good standing”. This report was a key event which spooked investors into rushing to redeem FTT en-masse, which eventually led to the collapse of FTX.

SBF asked Prominent Crypto Investors for Bailout to Prevent Collapse

During the trial, SBF’s partner and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison clarified that out of the $12 billion in client assets said to be held by FTX at the time of collapse, only $4 billion was available to process withdrawals.

Caroline Ellison arrives at court in New York on Oct. 12. Source: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg

She also testified that Sam-Bankman Fried had created a memo dating back to Nov. 6, 2022 where he outlined possible investors who could provide a bailout.

The court documents revealed the founder of the Tron network, Justin Sun, and a Huobi adviser, as a potential investor — who was “close to Binance CEO Chanpeng Zhao.” 

This marks the second week of Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial. He currently faces seven charges of fraud and conspiracy linked to the collapse of FTX. To date,  he has pleaded not guilty.

So far, Caroline Ellison has been a key witness in the trial. She is scheduled for cross-examination by the defense’s attorneys on Oct. 12. More details to follow.