The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced former CEO of the since-collapsed cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, began Oct. 3 with the selection of a Manhatten jury. Bankman-Fried, 31, is facing seven counts of fraud, which, in total, could carry a prison sentence of more than a century.
Bankman-Fried, who was arrested in the Bahamas in December of last year, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November of last year.
Several FTX executives, including two co-founders Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate against Bankman-Fried.
Related: Sam Bankman-Fried, facing 100-year prison term, begins trial in Manhattan
Several months earlier, a lawsuit filed in July against the FTX founder and three other former company executives revealed that Gabe Bankman-Fried, a top lobbyist for FTX and Sam's younger brother, attempted to purchase the Pacific island of Nauru in the event of an apocalypse.
According to a memo between Gabe Bankman-Fried and an unnamed company executive referenced in the lawsuit, which is seeking billions in damages, the brothers' plan was to "purchase the sovereign nation of Nauru in order to construct a 'bunker/shelter' that would be used for 'some event where 50%-99.99% of people die [to] ensure that most EAs [effective altruists] survive.'"
This post-apocalyptic island sanctuary, the memo continues, would additionally allow the surviving brothers to develop "sensible regulation around human genetic enhancement, and build a lab there," adding that there are “probably other things it’s useful to do with a sovereign country, too.”
A representative for Nauru told CNBC at the time that the island was never for sale.
Sam Bankman-Fried, who briefly enjoyed a net worth of $26 billion, has been detained since Aug. 11 after the judge found him to have engaged in attempted witness tampering.
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