Defense attorneys said that Sam Bankman-Fried will testify in the criminal trial

Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried will testify as part of the defense's case, attorney Mark Cohen said.

In an Oct. 25 conference call between SBF attorneys, prosecutors and Judge Louis Kaplan, Cohen said his team plans to call three witnesses and Bankman-Fried to the stand when the case wraps up on Oct. 26. Judge Kaplan said he will allow the case to go “live” on October 26, which goes directly from the prosecution's final testimony to the defense's first.

According to Cohen, the defense is not expected to take more than three days to question the three witnesses, who are a lawyer based in the Bahamas, Joseph Pimbley of the litigation consulting firm PF2 Securities and an individual who will testify in his capacity as a former employee of FTX. In total, by Kaplan's estimate, the defense's case could take “probably an hour,” not including SBF's testimony.

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The US government is expected to finish its case against SBF on the morning of October 26, with defense lawyers expected to finish the next day. Prosecutors added that they were unsure whether rebuttal witnesses were necessary based on Bankman-Fried's testimony. Closing arguments may be held before October 31st.

Related: The Sam Bankman-Fried trial is telling the story of a classic financial fraud.

Kaplan asked if the court would consider granting a special ruling in the case. According to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, the situation is one in which “a jury makes a finding on the facts of the case without specifying which side should prevail.”

“[T]He said the government has a single factual count of wire fraud involving customers and the concept is the defendant [SBF] He made false representations and had fiduciary relationships with depositors and took money,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ross. I think there is certainly an element in which these are closely related to the extent that the misrepresentations create a sense of trust and confidence in the victims of the crime.

Bankman-Fried's testimony came from former FTX and Alameda executives Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, who all admitted to committing crimes on the stand — often at SBF's direction. The criminal complaint alleges that SBF Alameda is responsible for misappropriating FTX funds from clients without their knowledge.

So far, it's unclear what information Banman-Fried could provide jurors that contradicts the narratives provided by other witnesses. The trial has been adjourned since October 19 but is expected to resume on October 26.

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