Sam Bankman-Fried's confidant Caroline Ellison will take the stand again at the FTX founder's trial on Thursday, where she could face questions about why she cooperated with prosecutors against her former boss and romantic partner.
Ellison, the former co-chief executive of Bankman-Fried's crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, has been on the stand since Tuesday detailing her role in a multibillion-dollar fraud prosecutors say was orchestrated by Bankman-Fried at his now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange.
Bankman-Fried's attorney Mark Cohen is expected to continue cross-examining Ellison, whom he questioned for a few minutes on Wednesday before jurors went home for the day.
Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried, 31, plundered billions in customer funds to prop up Alameda, buy real estate and donate more than $100 million to U.S. political campaigns. FTX collapsed and declared bankruptcy in November 2022, shocking financial markets and destroying Bankman-Fried's reputation.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy, and has said that while he made mistakes running FTX, he never intended to steal funds.
Earlier in the trial, Gary Wang, FTX's former technology chief, testified that Bankman-Fried falsely tweeted that FTX was "fine" in November as the exchange faced surging demand for withdrawals. A third cooperating witness, former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh, is also expected to testify at the trial, which could last up to six weeks.
