Confused by who’s who in the SBF trial? Want to know who the main players are? 🤷♂️
You’ve come to the right place. We’ll keep it short and simple.
Caroline Ellison
Role: Ex-Alameda employee and co-CEO turned star witness.
Charges: Pleaded guilty to a laundry list of frauds.
Why She’s Important: The prosecution’s secret weapon.
Interesting Tid Bit: Tumblr blogger who dabbled in race-science theories. Yikes. Former ex-girlfriend of SBF. Lived in an infamous Bahamas penthouse with SBF and eight other roommates like it’s ‘The Real World: Crypto.’
Nishad Singh
Role: FTX co-founder and director of engineering.
Charges: Pleaded guilty to a buffet of frauds and campaign finance misdeeds.
Trial Role: Yet another star witness.
Why He’s Important: Being the guy who made it rain millions on Democratic candidates.
Interesting Tid Bit: Also lived in the infamous Bahamas penthouse. There were A LOT of people who lived in the penthouse.
Zixiao “Gary” Wang
Role: FTX co-founder and CTO.
Charges: Pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy counts.
Trial Role: Another star witness for the prosecution.
Why He’s Important: Being the coding genius who maybe, just maybe, built a digital backdoor for FTX and Alameda.
Interesting Tid Bit: Met SBF at a math camp and they were life long besties until, well, FTX stuff.
Ryan Salame
Role: Ex-Alameda employee and co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets.
Charges: Pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.
Why He’s Important: Not testifying, but he’s got receipts.
Interesting Tid Bit: Bought a jet with FTX money. Because why not?
John Samuel Trabucco
Role: Briefly co-CEO of Alameda Research.
Charges: None.
Why He’s Important: Unofficial, but he’ll get name-dropped.
Interesting Tid Bit: Bought a yacht named “Soak My Deck.” Didn’t get along with Ellison, which might explain Alameda’s downfall. Also: smiles like a supervillain.
Alan Joseph Bankman
Role: SBF’s dad, early Alameda investor, and FTX’s unofficial Swiss Army knife.
Charges: None, but he’s an FTX bankruptcy soap opera guest star.
Why He’s Important: Probably the prosecution’s Exhibit A for “How to Enable Your Son’s Dubious Rise.”
Interesting Tid Bit: A Stanford Law prof and a Larry David fan boy. Advised SBF to move FTX to the Bahamas because who needs Hong Kong when you can have a tax haven?
And you can the Litepaper’s summary of what he’s accused of here.
Barbara Helen Fried
Role: SBF’s mom and FTX’s unofficial guidance counselor.
Charges: None, but she’s got a seat next to hubby in the bankruptcy drama.
Why She’s Important: Another Exhibit for the prosecution’s “Enabler” case.
Interesting Tid Bit: Stanford Law prof with a penchant for effective altruism and utilitarianism. Her super PAC, Mind the Gap, is allegedly an SBF piggy bank – allegedly.
And you can read the Litepaper’s summary of what she’s accused of here.
Gabriel Bankman-Fried, aka “Gabe”
Role: SBF’s younger bro, no FTX role, but boy, did he get FTX money.
Charges: None, but let’s just say he’s “under review.”
Why He’s Important The Robin to SBF’s Batman in the effective altruism crusade.
Interesting Tid Bit: Wanting to buy the island of Nauru for Dr. Moreau–style experiments. No, really, he wanted to do some creepy shit there.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao
Role: CEO of Binance, FTX’s frenemy. Well, more like a straight-up enemy now.
Charges: None here, but he’s got his own SEC drama.
Why He’s Important:I mean, come on, it’s CZ, the big wig of Binance. He’ll likely get Frequent mentions.
Interesting Tid Bit: Basically the guy who pushed FTX off the cliff with a Tweet, well, when it was Twitter.
Sullivan & Cromwell
Role: FTX’s legal advisor.
Why They’re Important: Document provider and potential scapegoat.
Interesting Tid Bit: Part of SBF’s defense is to blame these guys. Advised SBF to declare bankruptcy. How’d that work out?