Can Sam Bankman-Fried actually get a fair trial? - Episode 340 - by cryptohunt.it

Can Sam Bankman-Fried actually get a fair trial?

Welcome to the Cryptohunt Jam, where we spend a minute a day explaining what is happening in crypto and other game-changing ideas. As always: In plain English.

Sam Bankman-Fried has published his second blog post since he was put under house arrest, awaiting his trial in October.

But why is he actually speaking at all instead of letting the lawyers handle it?

Well, it all boils down to one question: Can he get a fair trial?

Let's be honest: What do you think about SBF? Probably nothing too good. And while we are on the same page as you, that's actually a huge problem.

Like any civilized legal system, US law assumes that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, the burden of proof is on the accuser, in this case the government, to show the person actually did something wrong.

But here in the United States, we also have jury trials. This means that a panel of 12 regular citizens decides the fate of the accused. And herein lies that problem: Like you, they've all been exposed to the overwhelmingly negative news about FTX. Rightfully so or not, the media has largely already declared Bankman-Fried guilty.

This is also known as "trial by media" and when October comes and the court opens its gates, SBF's reputation will be fully destroyed. No matter how hard those 12 jurors try, their judgement will be influenced.

Now, this is often the case - take popular murder cases as another example - and won't lead to a dismissal of the case for SBF. Which means, he really only has one choice - start advocating for himself since nobody else will.

He still gets a ton of attention, so this strategy might be worth trying - and that's most likely why he started blogging. In those posts, he can lay out a lot of detail to sway public opinion at least a little bit.

Whatever both sides report, we'll promise to take a deeper, and fair look at each. So stay tuned, because it looks like SBF is just getting started. Tomorrow, we'll look about his latest post that claims FTX customers in the US can get their money back.

This podcast is produced by Cryptohunt.it, the easiest place to learn all about Web3. And I hear you right here tomorrow. Always at 2am PST, 11am CET, 5 days a week.