'Courtroom Sketches of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison Roasted, Resembling "The Scream"'

Viral Summary: "Courtroom sketches of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison spark speculation that the artists had a personal grudge. Even Elon Musk agrees."

In the realm of social media, courtroom sketches featuring Sam Bankman-Fried, a disgraced crypto entrepreneur, and his former business associate Caroline Ellison have been circulating. Observers have made remarks suggesting that the artists behind these sketches may have harbored personal grudges against the subjects. Molly White, a web3 observer, posted, "Starting to think some of these courtroom sketch artists lost money on FTX," accompanied by the sketches.

The sentiment was echoed by another user on platform X, who concurred, "the courtroom sketch artist lost a shit ton of money in FTX, I'm sure of it." Even Elon Musk chimed in, expressing his agreement by stating, "Sure seems like it."

Critiques were not limited to the artists' potential biases, as some also commented on the appearance of Bankman-Fried and Ellison in the sketches. One user remarked, "Courtroom sketch of Caroline during the FTX trials goes hard, ngl," referring to a separate sketch of Ellison. Meanwhile, Reason associate editor Liz Wolfe humorously wrote, "If a courtroom sketch is ever made of me, I hope to look way hotter than this."

During her testimony on Tuesday, Ellison, the former CEO of Bankman-Fried's hedge fund Alameda Research, revealed that Bankman-Fried, who is also her ex-boyfriend, instructed her and others to defraud FTX clients. The scheme involved using approximately $10 million in customer funds without their knowledge. Ellison testified, "He was the one who set up these systems that allowed Alameda to take the money, and he was the one who directed us to take customer money to repay our loans." She expressed remorse for her actions, acknowledging that she knew it was wrong.

Prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried of illegally diverting customer funds from FTX to support Alameda, make real estate purchases, and donate over $100 million to U.S. political campaigns. FTX faced solvency concerns related to Alameda, leading to its collapse in November 2022, as reported by CoinDesk. In March of this year, FTX disclosed its inability to account for $8.9 billion in customer funds.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy. He has been in jail since August after the judge sided with prosecutors who alleged witness tampering efforts. If convicted on all seven criminal counts, Bankman-Fried could face a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison.

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