SBF grilled in court on deleted messages during testimony

Disgraced FTX founder Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried faced intense questioning in court regarding his decision to delete corporate messages during a closed-door testimony on October 26. The trial's jury was not present during this testimony.

Approval from FTX counsel for using Signal

When questioned by prosecutor Danielle Sassoon of the Southern District of New York about his use of the encrypted messaging app Signal for corporate communications, SBF claimed that he had the approval of FTX counsel Daniel Friedberg. However, SBF later admitted that while counsel approved the use of Signal, he never sought prior approval before utilizing the app's auto-delete feature.

"At some point, I remember changing my toggle to one-week auto-delete," SBF, the former crypto executive, explained. He added that this practice had been in place since 2021. When asked if he sought approval for this, SBF replied, "No."

Rationale for deleting messages

SBF attempted to explain his rationale for deleting messages during the testimony. He claimed that a document retention policy, allegedly approved by Friedberg, only applied to emails and not other forms of communication. When asked if any lawyer had given him permission to delete messages with specific individuals, SBF responded, "Not specifically."

SBF expressed regret for not having the document retention policy and stated, "I apologize, I wish I had that [document retention] policy now. My memory..."

Deleting messages related to "fake" balance sheets

Regarding communications about seven "fake" balance sheets prepared by colleague Caroline Ellison, SBF defended his decision to delete the messages by stating that verbal discussions were not required to be reported. When questioned about an alleged $13 billion hole in the exchange's balance sheet, SBF claimed that the messages were never shared with lawyers in accordance with the company's data retention policy. He explained, "I was concerned that statements could be taken out of context, that it could be embarrassing."