Legal experts have said that Bankman-Fried's testimony could be a disaster for his defense, unintentionally convincing the jury that he is the criminal mastermind and fraudster he insists that he is not. It's clear from today's testimony that he intends to counter that narrative by portraying himself as someone who made mistakes while acting in good faith. Despite analysts' predictions that Bankman-Fried might dig his own grave, the WSJ reported that on Friday, Bankman-Fried appeared "confident" in building his defense before the jury.
However, not everyone was as confident in the answers that Bankman-Fried gave on the stand, and it seems likely that the jury may have occasionally grown frustrated with Bankman-Fried during his time on the stand. According to The Post, the first three hours of Bankman-Fried's testimony contained "no revelations," and the judge repeatedly grew impatient whenever Bankman-Fried gave "long, rambling answers."