Blaming your ex-girlfriend for the collapse of a currency trading exchange and the loss of billions of dollars is a bold move.
The stakes are even higher when you are in a federal court in Manhattan facing an effective life sentence if found guilty. But that is the hand Sam Bankman-Fried chose to play as he testified in his own defence on Monday.
Bankman-Fried, 31, is accused of diverting billions of dollars from customer accounts on his digital currency trading platform FTX to the trading firm Alameda Research, which he also owned, but which was partly run by his former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison. He has been charged with fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, which he denies.
