On today's podcast:
1) Bankman-Fried Found Guilty of Fraud at FTX Criminal Trial
Jurors in New York found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of engaging in a massive fraud related to the collapse of his FTX crypto exchange. Bankman-Fried’s arrest last December, weeks after his exchange filed for bankruptcy, marked a dramatic escalation in the efforts by regulators and prosecutors to rein in what they perceive as excesses in the industry.
2) Israel Latest: Intense Gaza Strikes as Blinken Lands In Tel Aviv
Hezbollah’s leader issued a warning to Israel that the Lebanon-based militant group is ready for “all possibilities,” suggesting the daily cross-border fire between the two could tip into a full-blown war.
3) Apple Warns of Sluggish Holiday Quarter After China Slowdown
Apple Inc.’s disappointing holiday-quarter outlook has cast a spotlight on its mounting problems in China, where the iPhone maker is struggling with the unexpected rise of Huawei Technologies Co. and an increasingly hostile business environment.
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. We begin with a guilty verdict for Sam bankman freed. It took a jury less than five hours to convict the FTX co founder of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. Bloomberg's June Grosso begins our team coverage. It's not a surprise because the evidence against him was overwhelming. And think, what did it is? Sam Bankminfried took the stand in his own defense. And when a defendant takes the stand that way, the whole thing in the jury's mind becomes a credibility game. How credible do they find him? Bloomberg's June Grosso says, Sam bankman Fried faces as much as twenty years in prison on each of the most serious charges. He'll be sentenced in March. Well, Nathan Bloomberg, The legal reporter Ava Benny Morrison, was in the courtroom during the verdict, and she continues our team coverage. Dave was pretty emotionless. He was as to stand up by the judge. When the jury delivered its verdict. He faced the jury box, he held his hands in front of him and it looked like he was tearing down at the floor as the jury. As the fourth person to the jury confirmed guilty to each of the seven charges. He then sat back down. When the jury walked out of the room, he was whispering with his lawyers. He was nodding a lot. While he wasn't very emotional. His parents were. They were holding each other. His dad doubled over at one point. Bloomberg Legal reporter Ava Bennie Morrison reports Bankman's lawyer is considering an appeal may Karen Bloomberg. Business Week investigative reporter Zeke Fox wrote a book on ftx's Crypto roller Coaster, and he says Bankman freed struggled under cross examination. When his own lawyer was questioning him, he had a lot to say, but when the prosecution had there turned a cross examine, he suddenly didn't remember anything and in one moment that was dramatic, I mean, especially for me. The prosecutor asked her, as she asked him about the statement, there was more leeway, and he said, I don't remember saying anything like that. She whipped out a copy of my book, number Go Up and walked it over to him like a hard copy and was like turn to page two twenty four in Bloomberg Business Week, Zeek Fox ads the conviction is the first in a wave of legal action against crypto companies. Nathan now to the other major trial happening in New York, Donald Trump's two hundred and fifty million dollars civil fraud case. The former president's two oldest sons took turns on the witness stand, denying any role in preparing their company's financial records. Afterward, Donald Trump Junior addressed reporters before even having a day in court, I'm apparently guilty uh a fraud for relying on my accountants to do wait for it, accounting. Donald Trump Junior's brother is set to continue testifying today. Their sister, Evonka, will take this stand next week. She lost an appeal to delay her testimony. Well, Karen, we now turn to the war in the Middle East. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is back in Tel Aviv. We're determined that this conflict not spread, and we'll be talking to both the Israeli government partners in the region about what all of us are doing to prevent that from happening. When Secretary of State b Lincoln's arrival comes as ground operations continue in Gaza. The Hamas run Health Ministry says more than nine thousand Palestinians have died in the fighting. Israel says seventeen of its soldiers have been killed. Well, Nathan, the House has passed the Aid for Israel bill, but Bloomberg's ad Baxter reports and may have a troubled future. This is a victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson, but it looks as if it is dead to become law. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has been saying taking funding from IRS enforcement is a bad idea, and President Biden is out saying if it were to hit his desk, he would not sign it. House Speaker Johnson says it will get done. There is absolutely no equivocation here. We have to stay with Israel, and Republican Congressman Tom Cole says there are different paths to get the aid. We have a lot of unspent money. We ought to use that toward a more important purpose and that's his real So the issue is far from settled at Baxter Bloomberg Radio, Okay, and thank you. Turning the market. Shares of Apple are down more than three percent. The world's most valuable company reported its fourth straight sales decline and its warning holiday revenue will be about the same as last year. Angelo Zeno, as senior equity analyst, it's CFRAA research. It's not the most favorable landscape out there for PCs, even though the broader PC landscape appears to have found some sort of putting for the time being. But at the end of the day, the consumer landscape is still very challenging in nature CFAs angelo Zino says. The results also suggest apples facing a deceleration in China. Well Nathan O their stocks on the move this morning. Shares of DraftKings up seven percent. The sports betting operator reported sales and player numbers that beat analyst expectations, Block shares surging more than a ten percent. The Payments Giant run by Jack Dorsey, again boosting its profit forecast for the year, and shares a Booking dropping as much as seven percent in light trading. The company formerly known as Price Lines as travel demand had been diminished by the Israel Hamas war. On the economic front, karen a busy week concludes with the October Jobs report, a preview of that now from Bloomberg's Michael McKee, FED chair j Powell says a tight labor market could lead to another rate move, which means markets will parse the October jobs report trying to determine what it signals. Is hiring still much stronger than what's needed to absorb an increasing labor force. Have higher interest rates led companies to pull back on hiring or even start letting people go. Our companies still paying up to attract workers, While the Fed we'll also see the November payrolls report before its next meeting. Powell says it will take several months of data to make any decisions. Michael McKee, Bloomberg Radio. All right, Nathan, thank you. It is time now for a look at some of the other stories making news around the world, and for that we're joined by Bloomberg's John Tucker, John, good morning, and Karen. Something maybe rotten in the Big Apple. The mayor's fundraising campaign is under investigation. Let's get more on this report from Bloomberg's Michael Barr. Mayor Adams ditched a White House meeting on the migrant crisis and flew back to the city. The mayor explaining his abrupt return, but you probably heard the reports involved in one of my campaign staffers. The staffer is lead fundraiser, twenty five year old Brianna Suggs, whose Brooklyn home was raided by the FBI. Along with the officers of a New York construction firm called KSK, it made fourteen thousand dollars in campaign contributions. The investigation is looking into whether the company, along with Turkish nationals, made in proper donations in New York. Michael Barr Bloomberg Radio Adams was supposed to be with the mayors of Chicago and Denver. It asked Congress to approve President Biden's request at one point four billion dollars to help the cities and states in the migrant crisis. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, we're both of what wey've done. It's critical for us that this package passes over the next several weeks to get funding to cities, otherwise we'll have catastrophic impacts. The Democratic Mayor's trying to put pressure on the blinded administration to address the humanitarian crisis caused by record crossings at the southern border. The Senate had voted ninety five to one to confirm Admiral Linda Franchetti to be the next Chief of Naval Operations, making her the first woman to be a US military service chief. Set of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Admiral Fanchette is an exceptional leader with a distinguished career serving our nation. I'm confident she has the experience, the skills, and the vision to succeed as the US Navy's top naval as the US Navy's top officer. Franchetti's confirmation comes amid a temporary break from a blockade by Senator Tommy Tubberville stalling hundreds of military promotions. Riding high on historic contract wins against Detroit's automakers, UAWT President Sean Fain he is confident he can now take on Tesla and it's anti union chief Elon Musk. In an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, Fan said we can beat anybody global news twenty four hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News. Now, I'm John Tucker, and this is Bloomberg. Karen, all right, John, thanks, so we bring you news throughout the day here on Bloomberg Radio. But now you can get the latest news on demand whenever you want it. Subscribe to Bloomberg News Now to get the latest headlines at the click of a button. Get informed on your schedule. You can listen and subscribe to Bloomberg News Now on the Bloomberg Business app, Bloomberg dot com plus Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update. Here's John stash Hour John Karen Weign. I'm in the NFL Underway with an AFC game in Pittsburgh. The Steelers and Titans were tied at ten, then at thirteen. Pittsburgh trailed in the fourth quarter. Ticket in the shotgun gets the snap looks right. Johnson White open tutop Pittsburgh. The Steelers bunched ninety two yards to take Tully. That's the day Johnson's first touchdown and won a couple season tests. Twenty Games TV had the calls. The Steelers beat the Titans twenty to sixteen. Pittsburgh's five and three Tennessee is three and five In Victor Weinberana's fifth NBA game, the Spurs rookie sensations scored thirty eight points. He had ten rebounds. Some highlight reel baskets as the San Antonio Spurs blew a twenty seven point lead but still beat Phoenix won thirty two to one twenty one. Philadelphia's three and one won by fifteen over Toronto. Joel Mbi scored twenty eight. The Pelicans are four to one. They played without Zion Williams from CJ. McCollums scored thirty three and win over Detroit. Orlando won by two at Utah Paalo Bankero scored thirty. The games tonight of the NBA marked the beginning of the NBA's in season tournament. The Bruins are nine to zhoin one. They beat Toronto three two in a shootout. Nelson Cruz announced his retirement at age forty three. Played nineteen seasons. There eight different teams at four hundred and sixty four home runs as expected World Series ratings, the lowest ever one hundred and thirty baseball players will be free agents. Heading the list show AO Time John Stanshaur Bloomberg sports from coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco, Boston to Washington, DC, nationwide on Syrias Exam. The Bloomberg Business app in Bloomberg dot Com. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. Guilty on all counts. After a month long trial, Sam Bankman Freed is convicted in one of the biggest cases of financial fraud in decades over the collapse of his FTX crypto empire. For more reaction to this outcome, we are joined now by Bloomberg Law host June Grosso. It's good to have you back with us this morning. Of course, this came after more than fifteen days of testimony that this jury heard. In the end, though it did take only about five hours for those jurors to come back with a verdict. Your thoughts, Yeah, it was a very quick verdict. I think that the evidence of this case was overwhelming. The prosecution had not only documents that they could present, but they also had three insiders, three witnesses who were close friends of Bankment Freed, one a former girlfriend of his, who were in on the process, in on what happened, and they testified, and their testimony was very you know, conclusive, and the cross examinations really didn't expose many holds in their testimony. And you also had the fact that Sam bankmin Freed took the stand, and when a defendant takes the stand, the focus for the jury then becomes the credibility of that defendant. And while he did pretty well on direct examination, on cross examination, the cross exit nomination was just withering and he said I don't know, or words to that effect more than a hundred times. So I think that in this case, he's taking the stand, which was a risky move. Everyone knows that it's a risky move for a defendant to take the stand, and it worked against him. Here, was that the biggest mistake that Sam Bankman Freed made to take the stand? Or is there something more that he could have done to try to rebut that testimony from as you say, what used to be his closest friends, his inner circle, Well, you know, it's hard to say. I don't want to characterize it as a mistake really because I don't know that he had any other choice. The evidence against him, as I said, was building, building, building. He had those those witnesses who turned against him, and really, what else could he have done but take the stand. He really had no other recourse. It was sort of forced on him as the trial was going on, the question will he take the stand or not. And the analysis was, well, he has the kind of personality to want to take the stand. I mean, look at all the times he's talked in the media, but everyone knew that on cross examination he was going to be confronted with not only the testimony of the three people who were closest to him at FTX and Alima Research who turned on him, but also all the statements that he made, all the times he talked to the media about FTX after the bankruptcy. So but what else could he do? It was it was a hail Mary pass and he took it. But you know, the choice was really there wasn't really wasn't much choice because it was so overwhelming at that point that you know, he had to take the chance. And there was, as you mentioned, so much overwhelming testimony against him before the standard. Even before that testimony, I mean, he lost a number of pre trial motions that kept him from calling expert witnesses. And of course there was that moment even before he was allowed to testify before a jury, where he got on the stand in front of the judge to argue for being allowed to testify about advice from his lawyers. So I mean, he had a number of hands tied behind his back, didn't he. Yeah, I think you know so many of the motions, every big one that I can think of. The judge ruled against him, and in particular, he was on the stand, as you mentioned, about three hours testifying before the judge, so the judge could decide whether or not he could get use an advice of council defense and that was really critical to his defense his lawyers, and he wanted to say that what he did he did because he was relying on the advice of his attorneys, and the judge said that he could not do that. I mean, the judge even ruled before trial that they couldn't use that, they couldn't talk about that in their opening statements to the jury. And then then he had those three hours on the stands where the judge decided that he couldn't use that and he couldn't talk about that in front of the jury, and that was really a hit on his defense. And if you go back, I mean even before the trial, the judge, as you mentioned, said that he couldn't use expert witnesses, and the judge threw him into jail after he had communicated with the press, and that was really a surprise too, because he had a huge bail package and the defense was coming in to agree that day to a gag order. Instead, the judge decided that he was going to throw him into jail weeks before the trial, and that really puts a strain on the defense in more ways than one. I mean, not only did he not have his adderall when he was in jail, not have the right dose of it, but he's a vegan and he didn't get the kind of food he eats. He didn't get the kind of food at the Brooklyn Detention Center, so everyone saw that he lost a lot of weight when it came to the courtroom. But more than that, it's very difficult to prepare for trial when you're behind bars and your lawyer has to make appointments to meet you, and you don't have access to all the documents and you know, the internet and the things you need. So it really was an uphill battle for him from the very beginning. And so we've had this uphill battle go on for just about a month. After a relatively quick jury decision, we are expecting that Sam Bankminfried and his lawyers are going to appeal this verdict. How do you expect that to go? Now, Well, you know, they have a lot of issues that they can appeal on, and they're the ones that I was just talking about, the judge turning down the advice of counsel and the expert witnesses, and I'm sure they have a lot more from what happened at trial, but it's it's very difficult to get a conviction reversed on appeal. It happens, but it's very difficult because a lot of these decisions are what they say, you know, in the discretion of the judge, and the appellate court won't touch a lot of a lot of these decisions if they feel that it was in the discretion of the judge and that these may all fit in that category. So you know they will. They do have a lot to talk about, They do have a lot to raise on appeal, but you know, it's another uphill battle for him. This is Bloomberg day Break Today, your morning brief on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feat at six am Eastern each morning, on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. You can also listen live each morning starting at five am Wall Street Time on Bloomberg eleven three to zero in New York, Bloomberg ninety nine one in Washington, Bloomberg one oh sixty one in Boston, and Bloomberg ninety sixty in San Francisco. Our flagship New York station is also available on your Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa Play Bloomberg eleven thirty plus listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app, serious XM Channel one nineteen, the iHeartRadio app, and on Bloomberg dot com. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak
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