Sex, Signal messages and sabotage: SBF’s top execs and Bahamas roommates tell all in court

Published

2 years ago

October 6, 2023

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Witness Adam Yedidia answers questions during Sam Bankman-Fried fraud trial over the collapse of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal Court in New York City, October 5, 2023, in this courtroom sketch.

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

Two of Sam Bankman-Fried’s former friends from MIT, who also worked at crypto exchange FTX while living with the company’s founder in the Bahamas, took the stand in a Manhattan courtroom this week to testify against their former classmate, confidant, and boss — a man who allegedly ran a crypto empire that defrauded thousands of customers out of billions of dollars.

Gary Wang, the lesser-known co-founder of FTX, was asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos on Thursday, “Did you commit financial crimes while working at FTX?”

“Yes,” responded Wang. He said that his crimes, including wire and commodities fraud, were carried out with the help of Bankman-Fried, FTX ex-engineering head Nishad Singh and Caroline Ellison, who ran sister hedge fund Alameda Research and had been Bankman-Fried’s girlfriend.

“Mr. Wang, do you see any of the people you committed those crimes with in the courtroom today?” Roos continued.

Wang, dressed in an oversized and wrinkled suit with a red tie and glasses, awkwardly stood up and looked around the courtroom before responding, “Yes.”

“Who do you see?” asked Roos.

“Sam Bankman-Fried,” he said.

The trial, set to last six weeks, will resume on Tuesday with key testimony expected from Ellison, who is considered the prosecution’s star witness, having already pleaded guilty to multiple charges. Bankman-Fried faces seven federal charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering, that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Thus far, Bankman-Fried, 31, has remained mostly quiet in court intently listening to witnesses and at times writing notes to his attorneys. But as Wang testified against him, Bankman-Fried looked visibility upset, shifting his gaze from his former friend to the ground, and at one point putting his head in his hands.

Sam Bankman-Fried listens as Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos questions Gary Wang during Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial over the collapse of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal Court in New York City, U.S., October 6, 2023, in this courtroom sketch.

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

Wang, 30, was technology chief for FTX, which spiraled into bankruptcy in November. He spoke so fast that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan and the prosecutor both stopped him at points to ask that he slow his pace.

Much of Wang’s testimony on Friday focused on the final days at FTX before the entire operation imploded, including reports in the media detailing Alameda’s business practices and its troubling ties to FTX.

Wang said that in response to the reporting an emergency meeting was called between Bankman-Fried, Wang and Singh, to discuss shutting down Alameda. He said they ultimately decided against such a move, because he and Bankman-Fried were aware that Alameda had no way to repay the roughly $14 billion hole in its books.

Prosecutors took the jury through a series of tweets, beginning on Nov. 7. Posts came from the company blaming bank hours for slow withdrawals, while Bankman-Fried tweeted from his personal account, assuring customers that all was fine.

“FTX was not fine and assets were not fine,” Wang testified.

On Nov. 12, after FTX declared bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried asked Wang to drive with him to the Bahamas Securities Commission for a meeting. On the drive, Bankman-Fried told Wang to transfer assets to Bahamian liquidators because he believed they would allow him to maintain control of the company. Wang said he wasn’t in the meeting with the securities authority, though Bankman-Fried’s dad was present.

Wang said he returned to the U.S. and met with prosecutors the next day. He faces up to 50 years in prison when he faces a judge for sentencing following this trial. He told jurors he signed a six-page cooperation agreement that requires him to meet with prosecutors, answer their questions truthfully and turn over evidence.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is seen during a hearing as a U.S judge revoked his bail, at a courthouse in New York, U.S., August 11, 2023 in this courtroom sketch.

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

$65 billion line of credit

For months, Bankman-Fried has known that Wang and Ellison, who were integral members of his personal and professional inner circles, had turned on him. Both pleaded guilty in December and have since been cooperating with the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.

Wang’s testimony, which stretched into Friday, was given under a cooperation agreement with the government. Ellison is expected to take the stand under a similar arrangement.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan presides as Gary Wang testifies during the fraud trial of Sam Bankman-Fried over the collapse of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal Court in New York City, U.S., October 6, 2023 in this courtroom sketch.

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

Born in China, Wang moved to the U.S. at age 7, and grew up in Minnesota before going to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study math and computer science. He worked at Google after college.

Wang, who first met Bankman-Fried during high school at a summer camp, owned 10% of Alameda, while his boss owned the other 90%. Wang told the court about the advantages that Alameda received by having code baked into FTX’s software that allowed special access to the crypto exchange. Those privileges ultimately resulted in Alameda owing FTX $8 billion worth of customer deposits.

“We gave special privileges on FTX that gave unlimited withdrawals on the platform to Alameda,” Wang said. Alameda was allowed to withdraw and transfer those funds and had a $65 billion line of credit.

“When customers deposited USD, it went to Alameda,” he said. “It existed in the computer code. Alameda could have negative balances and unlimited withdrawals.”

That “bug” in the code was written by Nishad Singh, who was FTX’s director of engineering, and reviewed by Wang. Bankman-Fried was calling the shots, Wang said.

Wang also told the court about a $1 million personal loan he received and a $200 million to $300 million loan in his name from Alameda that was never deposited into his account, but rather was used to make investments into other companies on behalf of FTX. That was all done by Bankman-Fried, he testified.

In early 2020, Wang said he discovered for the first time Alameda’s negative balance exceeded FTX’s revenue, an indication that Alameda was taking customer funds. Wang said he brought this to Bankman-Fried’s attention several times.

In late 2021, Wang discovered Alameda had withdrawn $3 billion from its $65 billion line of credit.

Wang’s compensation was a base salary of $200,000 per year plus stock. He owned roughly 17% of FTX.

Even though they were co-founders, “ultimately it was Sam’s decision to make” when there were disagreements, he said.

Assistant United States Attorney Nicolas Roos questions Gary Wang during Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial over the collapse of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal Court in New York City, U.S., October 6, 2023, in this courtroom sketch.

Jane Rosenberg | Reuters

An $8 billion bug

Adam Yedidia, who was the prosecution’s second witness on Wednesday, continued his testimony on Thursday. Yedidia met Bankman-Fried in college at MIT, and the pair remained close friends.

Yedidia, assuming a robotic posture on the stand, worked out of FTX’s Hong Kong office from January to October of 2021 and then in the Bahamas until last year’s collapse. In his testimony, he referred to a group Signal thread called “People of the House,” referring to Bankman-Fried’s $35 million penthouse, where many employees lived.

Exhibit from the prosecution shows Signal thread called “People of the House,” referring to Bankman-Fried’s $35 million penthouse, where many employees lived.

Source: SDNY

In terms of who was paying the rent, Yedidia recalled Bankman-Fried saying he “assumed it’s just Alameda paying for it in the end.”

Yedidia said Bankman-Fried had told him, before he began working in the Bahamas in 2019, that he and Ellison had sex. Bankman-Fried asked Yedidia if it was a good idea for them to date, to which Yedidia said no. Bankman-Fried responded by saying he was expecting that answer.

One of Yedidia’s responsibilities was fixing the bug in the code that gave Alameda preferential treatment. In June 2022, he submitted a report to Bankman-Fried on Signal that showed $8 billion in customer money held in an internal database tracking the cash wired to an Alameda account called “fiat at ftx.com” was missing.

Yedidia said he and Bankman-Fried spoke about it at the pickleball court at the resort in Nassau, Bahamas. He asked his boss if things were OK. He was concerned because it “seemed like a lot of money” from FTX customers was at risk.

“Sam said, we were bulletproof last year. We aren’t bulletproof this year,” Yedidia testified.

Yedidia said he asked when they would be bulletproof again.

Bankman-Fried said he wasn’t sure, but it may be six months to three years. Yedidia said Bankman-Fried appeared “worried or nervous,” which he said was atypical. Still, Yedidia said he trusted Bankman-Fried and Ellison to “handle the situation.”

On cross-examination, Christian Everdell, Bankman-Fried’s attorney, focused on how Yedidia was the one responsible for developing and reviewing the code.

He asked about the long hours employees worked and Yedidia’s concern for Wang being near burnout. That resulted in Yedidia instituting a rule to not wake Wang at night for bug fixes because he needed sleep.

Everdell also drilled Yedidia on his high level of compensation in his less than two years at FTX. His base salary was between $175,000 and $200,000, but he received multiple bonuses of more than $12 million in cash and company equity.

Yedidia said he’s now teaching math — geometry and algebra — at a high school. He invested most of the millions he earned as bonuses back into FTX, and his equity stake is now worthless.

As FTX was failing, Yedidia said he was by Bankman-Fried’s side. He highlighted a Signal exchange in November 2022, during which he wrote, “I love you Sam. I’m not going anywhere.” He said he wrote the message because so many people had left.

When asked what changed, Yedidia said he learned that FTX customer deposits had been used to pay loans to creditors. He said Alameda’s actions seemed “flagrantly wrong.”

Yedidia’s testimony ended on a fiery note, which was later struck from the record. He was asked why he had lost faith in FTX and resigned.

“FTX defrauded all its customers,” he said.

Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm Operations LP, right, arrives at court in New York, US, on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. Former FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried is charged with seven counts of fraud and money laundering following the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire last year. Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Investment to zero

The third witness to take the stand was Matt Huang, co-founder and managing partner of Paradigm, a crypto venture capital firm that invested over $275 million in FTX. That stake was wiped out.

Huang testified about his firm’s due diligence on FTX, and he told the court that Bankman-Fried assured him that funds would be used for FTX and not Alameda. Additionally, he was promised that Alameda had no preferential treatment on the FTX platform, even though the hedge fund was one of its top traders.

Huang said he was concerned about FTX’s lack of a board of directors, but he eventually invested anyway. During cross-examination, Huang said Paradigm pressed Bankman-Fried on the board issue and was told he didn’t want investors as directors but he did plan on having a board with experts.

— CNBC’s Dawn Giel contributed to this report.

Sam Bankman-Fried criminal trial begins in New York

Environment

The ticket bot cometh: cities are ticketing drivers that AI says are bad [update]

Published

17 hours ago

December 6, 2025

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The ticket bot cometh: cities are ticketing drivers that AI says are bad [update]

In a high-tech move that we can all get behind and isn’t dystopian at all, the City of Barcelona is feeding camera data from its city buses into an advanced AI, but they swear they’re not using the footage to to issue tickets to bad drivers. Yet.

UPDATE 06DEC2025: the ticket bot cometh to Chicago.

Last month, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) contracted with Hayden AI to equip six of its transit buses with AI-powered license plate readers intended to target illegally parked vehicles in an area bound by North Avenue, Roosevelt Road, Lake Michigan and Ashland Avenue.

As with similar pilots in Barcelona and NYC, the Hayden AI technology captures information from vehicles illegally blocking bus and bike lanes, then submits its “findings” to a human reviewer for confirmation. If the reviewer agrees with the AI, they can issue a fine of $90 for parking in a bus lane, $250 for bike lane obstruction, $50 for parking in expired meters outside of the central business district, and $140 for personal vehicles parked in commercial loading zones.

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Despite those hefty fines, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is quick to point out that the goal of the program isn’t to generate revenue.

“Every Chicagoan deserves a transportation system that is safe, reliable, and efficient,” said Mayor Johnson, in a statement. “By keeping bus and bike lanes clear of illegally parked vehicles, the Smart Streets pilot helps us protect our most vulnerable road users while improving the daily commute for riders across the city.”

The official release makes no mention of the fact that Hayden AI’s system generated nearly $21 million in revenue for the city in just a few months, despite the fact that thousands of those ticketed weren’t doing anything wrong.

We wrote about some of these issues back in Jun. You can read that original article, below, and let us know what you think of Chicago’s “non-revenue” claims in the comments.

Barcelona launches automated bus lane and bus stop enforcement pilot with Hayden AI — Barcelona ticketing AI; via Hayden AI.

Barcelona and its Ring Roads Low Emission Zone have earned lots of fans by limiting ICE traffic in the city’s core. The city’s latest idea to promote mass transit is the deployment of an artificial intelligence system developed by Hayden AI for automatic enforcement of reserved lanes and stops to improve bus circulation – but while it seems to be working as intended, it’s raising entirely different questions.

“Bus lanes are designed to help deliver reliable, fast, and convenient public transport service. But private vehicles illegally using bus lanes make this impossible,” explains Laia Bonet, First Deputy Mayor, Area for Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing at the Ajuntament de Barcelona. “We are excited to partner with Hayden AI to learn where these problems occur and how they are impacting our public transport service.”

Currently operating as a pilot program on the city’s H12 and D20 bus lines, the system uses cameras installed on the city’s electric buses to detect vehicles that commit static violations in the bus lanes and stops (read: stopping or parking where you shouldn’t). The Hayden AI system then analyses that data and provides statistical information on what it captures while the bus is driving along on its daily route.

Hayden AI says that, while it photographs and records video sequences and collects contextual information of the violation, its cameras do not record license plates or people and no penalties are being issued to drivers or owners of the vehicles.

So far so good, right? But it’s what happens once the six mont pilot is over that seems like it should be setting off alarm bells.

Big Brother Bus is watching

“You are being recorded” sign in a bus; via Barcelona City Council.

The footage is manually reviewed by a Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) officer, who reportedly reviewed some 2,500 violations identified by AI in May alone. But, while the system isn’t being used to issue violations during the pilot program, it easily could.

And, in fact, it already has … and the AI f@#ked up royally.

AI writes thousands of bad tickets

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NYC issued hundreds of thousands of tickets; via NBC.

When AI was given the ability to issue citations in New York City earlier this year, it wrote more than 290,000 tickets (that’s right: two-hundred and ninety thousand) in just three months, generating nearly $21 million in revenue for the city. The was just one problem: thousands of those drivers weren’t doing anything wrong.

What’s more, the fines generated by the AI powered cameras were supposed to be approved only after being verified by a human, but either that didn’t happen, or it did happen and the human operator in question wasn’t paying attention, or (maybe the worst possibility) the violations were mistakes or hallucinations, and the human checker couldn’t tell the difference.

In OpenAI’s tests of its newest o3 and o4-mini reasoning models, the company found the o3 model hallucinated 33% of the time during its PersonQA tests, in which the bot is asked questions about public figures. When asked short fact-based questions in the company’s SimpleQA tests, OpenAI said o3 hallucinated 51% of the time. The o4-mini model fared even worse: It hallucinated 41% of the time during the PersonQA test and 79% of the time in the SimpleQA test, though OpenAI said its worse performance was expected as it is a smaller model designed to be faster. OpenAI’s latest update to ChatGPT, GPT-4.5, hallucinates less than its o3 and o4-mini models. The company said when GPT-4.5 was released in February the model has a hallucination rate of 37.1% for its SimpleQA test.

FORBES

I don’t know about you guys, but if we had a local traffic cop that got it wrong 33% of the time (at best), I’d be surprised if they kept their job for very long. But AI? AI has a multibillion dollar hype train and armies of undereducated believers talking about singularities and building themselves blonde robots with boobs. And once the AI starts issuing tickets to the AI that’s driving your robotaxi, it can just call its buddy AI the bank to send over your money. No human necessary, at any point, and the economy keeps on humming.

But, like – I’m sure that’s fine. Embrace the future and all that … right?

SOURCES: Hayden AI, via Chicago Sun Times, Forbes, Motorpasión.

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Environment

Kubota, Kilter to partner on next-generation autonomous farm robot

Published

17 hours ago

December 6, 2025

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Kubota, Kilter to partner on next-generation autonomous farm robot

Kubota partners with Kilter to pilot ultra-precise weeding robot AX-1

The Japanese agriculture equipment experts Kubota are partnering with Norwegian tech startup Kilter to co-develop, pilot, and promote the new Kilter AX-1 ultra high-precision weeding robot across Europe.

The collaboration will initially target Kubota’s vegetable growing customers in Germany and the Netherlands, specifically farmers growing spinach, salad lettuces, herbs, celeriac, and strawberries who hope to benefit of higher yields and crop quality while cutting the use of chemical pesticides to an absolute minimum.

To accomplish those goals, the Kilter AX-1 uses a patented tech package it calls “Single Drop Technology.” Single Drop Technology combines AI weed recognition and ~6 mm placement accuracy to deliver micro-doses directly to weeds, protecting the crop and minimizing the impact to the surrounding soil.

Getting that 6 mm droplet application wasn’t easy. “You can’t buy a field-ready droplet applicator off the shelf,” Anders Brevik, CEO of Kilter, told AgTechNavigator. “We had to design one that survives years of dust, vibration, temperature swings, and long operating days, while keeping droplet size, timing, and placement consistent. That takes deep agronomy knowledge, a lot of engineering, and thousands of hours of field testing.”

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Kilter says growers can reduce herbicide use by up to 95% by adopting the new AX-1, shifting selectivity from chemistry to smart application.

Kubota Europe’s Smart Farming Solutions Division, launched back in 2024, is working with the company’s European dealer network to train up sales staff and integrate the Kilter robot into Kubota’s broader farm solutions portfolio. There’s no word, yet, on pricing or if/when we’ll get the Kilter in North America.

Electrek’s Take

AX-1 robot; by Kilter, via AgTechNavigator.

Kubota has been bringing literal tons of electrified and autonomous ag solutions to shows like CES for the past few years, and they’ve made significant waves there. With partnerships that take the sustainability push beyond decarbonization and into the realms of de-chemicalizing (that’s a word) and pro-pollenatoring (another word), they’re making real steps towards a more sustainable future for agriculture.

SOURCES | IMAGES: Kilter, AgTechNavigator.

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The future of electric farming is taking shape at John Deere [video]

Published

19 hours ago

December 6, 2025

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The future of electric farming is taking shape at John Deere [video]

John Deere prepares its next move in electric tractors. — Autonomous electric tractor concept; by John Deere.

Energy independence and cost control are top of mind for farmers, and more companies are rolling out electric equipment that can be charged by solar, wind, or even on-farm biogas. With the debut of its latest next-generation electric tractor at Agritechnica last month, John Deere is signaling that it intends to lead that revolution.

John Deere says the E-Power electric tractor prototypes that it’s been quietly teasing since 2022 will be as quiet as a car, as easy to drive as a golf cart, and require minimal upkeep – and all while providing the same performance as the company’s beloved diesel tractors.

“Our goal with the E-Power tractor is to ensure it performs the same jobs as its diesel counterparts and works with the same implements, while unlocking incremental value,” explains Derek Muller, business manager for battery electric vehicle systems at John Deere. “Through our electric lineup, we’ll look to reduce operational and maintenance costs, deliver powerful and reliable performance, and intuitive operation.”

The latest electric John Deere tractor prototype, recently unveiled at Agritechnica, is equipped with a 100 hp drive motor and two, additional motors. One 130 continuous hp electric motor for the PTO, and a third for the hydraulic pump. They’ll draw power from up to five KREISEL li-ion battery packs, allowing customers significant pricing flexibility based on their ability to determine how much power and run time they need (and are willing to pay for) to get their jobs done.

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Electric John Deere tractor

130 hp electric tractor shown at Agritechnica; by John Deere.

The customization will go well beyond just battery size. Deere plans to offer customers a number of different tractor and equipment options, and keep costs competitive by basing them on a vehicle common architecture.

“John Deere aims to develop a single electric concept that customers can configure to their own needs,” writes Bob Karsten, at Future Farming. “Buyers will be able to choose the number of batteries (up to five, totalling 195 kWh), the axle type (narrow or wide track), and the cab (either an orchard cab or the familiar 5M cab). In essence, buyers select their preferred battery capacity. With the largest battery (195 kWh), the tractor can operate for eight hours. The target is to enable fast charging up to 80% in 30 minutes.”

Deere revealed one version of that upcoming electric tractor (above) at Agritechnica last week, but despite being an early prototype, it’s a fully functional piece that’s already seen duty with some of John Deere’s most trusted customers.

Daniel, an orchard customer from California, said his experience with the electric tractor led him to believe it could help ease training new operators, “I do think the tractor is much easier for drivers to understand it and to drive it. It would take less time to teach them [operators] how to use it.”
Tyler, a vineyard customer in California, believes that a new electric tractor could help his operation meet its sustainability goals, “When we look at our carbon footprint, greenhouse gas emissions, we want to try and reduce those as we run our equipment to farm our vineyards, we want to be conscious of the community at large.”

There’s no official word yet on when the new John Deere electric tractor platform will start reaching customers, but Big Green’s recent purchase of battery manufacturer KREISEL and its continued push into more global markets means that it can’t afford to take things slow.

You can check out a quick, virtual walkaround of John Deere’s E-Power electric tractor concept in this (admittedly older) video released around the ACT Expo, and expect more details and possible configurations at the upcoming CON/AGExpo conference in March.

John Deere E-Power configurations

[embedded content]

SOURCE | IMAGES: John Deere.

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