DOJ Wants SBF's Proposed Expert Witnesses Barred From Testifying at FTX Trial

“The defense’s proposed experts suffer from an array of deficiencies that warrant preclusion of all seven witnesses,” said the DOJ.

2 min read

Aug 29, 2023

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed for all of Sam Bankman-Fried’s proposed expert witnesses to be excluded from testifying in the disgraced crypto mogul’s upcoming October trial.

Documents filed late Monday by the DOJ read “The defense’s proposed experts and accompanying disclosures suffer from an array of deficiencies that warrant preclusion of all seven witnesses.”

Authorities claim the seven experts do not adhere to minimum criminal proceedings laws, and opinions lack a reliable methodology. The DOJ added that their testimonies could be unfairly prejudicial and confusing to the jury.

“The Court should exercise its gatekeeping authority and preclude such impermissible expert testimony,” read the filings.

The seven witnesses include one British lawyer, the heads of four different consulting firms, one law professor and a business school assistant professor.

Each of these expert witnesses will testify with regards to FTX and Alameda Research’s terms of service, accounting activities, software infrastructure, campaign finance laws, and the underlying use cases of blockchain technology.

Joseph Pimbley, principal at Maxwell Consulting, is being rejected by the DOJ on grounds that his expertise regarding FTX’s code is unnecessary and might duplicate testimony. The government cites two of their witnesses, former CTO Nishad Singh and director of engineering, Gary Wang as offering the necessary competency.

According to the filings, the DOJ has requested that if several of the witnesses are not excluded from testimony, a Daubert hearing be conducted.

A Daubert hearing allows both sides of a court case to examine the challenged expert in open court, in order to evaluate their admissibility.

The Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX bankruptcy case has been brimming with legal requests from both parties.

The latest was last week, when the legal team in command of the FTX Estate requested the court allow the now-defunct exchange to stake its Ethereum and sell its Bitcoin as a hedge.

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