Judge rules New York law applies in SBF case

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan will explain to jurors how New York law applies to the seven charges against SBF. SBF lawyers tried to argue that the legal terms were governed by English law and the jury should be guided by English law, but Judge Kaplan said the SBF case "applies to New York law." At Tuesday's charging conference, attorneys at times debated one or two words in a sentence in a more than 60-page document that they argued would change the meaning of the charges being filed. In an early victory for the prosecution, the judge ruled that if the jury found that SBF made false statements or misappropriated funds in the process of promoting FTX to customers, he would instruct the jury to find SBF guilty of one count of wire fraud. On the other hand, based on the defendants' testimony earlier in the day, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thane Rehn argued that SBF was trying to avoid direct knowledge of some of the problems with FTX and its sister company, Alameda Research. (CoinDesk) It was reported yesterday that SBF lawyers are seeking a jury to consider the jurisdiction of British law on FTX’s terms of service. In addition, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding over the SBF case, said that closing arguments will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and the closing arguments of both parties on Wednesday are expected to last two to three hours. Under that schedule, the jury could begin deliberations on Thursday.