SBF Facing a 90% Chance of Conviction, Says Madoff Prosecutor
Then again, there's a 10% chance he gets off...
As the jury deciding Sam Bankman-Fried’s fate begins to deliberate, we decided to check in with Bernie Madoff’s former prosecutor once again.
We were in the courthouse for closing arguments (and recapped those here for those who are curious) but seeing as we aren’t attorneys, we figured who better to ask about SBF’s odds than the man who took down Bernie Madoff?
Attorney Marc Litt tells us SBF only has a 10% chance of acquittal on the blend of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges he now faces.
WHAT SAY YOU?! Coinage members are being asked to rule for themselves in our on-chain deliberations. In the early vote, the split between GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS and ACQUITTED ON AT LEAST ONE CHARGE is pretty evenly split.**
***Remember, voting in our on-chain polls is how we decide active vs. inactive community members. :)
“You can't predict juries, and all it takes is one to have a hung jury,” Litt told Coinage Thursday. “And, you know, the jurors will want to be careful and and go through the instructions and the evidence and each of the charges and take the time to discuss each one of them.”
That said, having received the official guidance from Judge Kaplan Thursday afternoon, Litt said a verdict could be reached within hours if they think the prosecution successfully removed any question of Sam’s guilt. That means Thursday evening is on the table!
“Three hours of deliberation, I would say, is about the minimum for a case like this,” Litt said. “The maximum before I'd start thinking that there was a hung jury or even potentially an acquittal – although I'm dubious that would happen – is more like a week.”
On Thursday morning, assistant US prosecutor Danielle Sassoon continued to argue in favor of a conviction during the government’s rebuttal to the defense’s closing argument.
She pointed out that SBF had been able to dupe the media, and his customers – she pleaded with the jury to avoid the same fate.
"The defendant knew what he was doing was wrong, and that's why he didn't hire a chief risk officer," she concluded. "Don't fall for his lies …. find him guilty."