FTX founder's expert witnesses costing up to $1.2K an hour for AI article writing and understanding the differences between Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 and Metaverse.
FTX founder’s expert witnesses could cost up to $1.2K an hour

Expert Witnesses for SBF’s Fraud Trial

As the trial of FTX co-founder Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried approaches, new court filings suggest that SBF may pay his expert witnesses more than $1,000 an hour should they be called to testify on his behalf.

Seven expert witnesses may be called to testify at the fraud trial, which is set for Oct. 2, 2023. These proposed experts include Lawrence Akka, Thomas Bishop, Brian Kim, Joseph Pimbley, Bradley Smith, Peter Vinella and Andrew Di Wu.

For example, former Federal Election Commission Chairperson Bradley Smith has informed the court that he will charge SBF’s legal team $1,200 an hour for his services related to the United States’ campaign finance laws and straw donors.

“I have no financial interest in the outcome of this case. I am being compensated for my time and services on an hourly basis at the billing rate of $1,200 per hour,” Smith said in the filing.

Expert Witness Fees

According to court filings, Akka and Pimbley, two expert witnesses, could charge 800 British pounds ($1,000) and $720 per hour, respectively. Other proposed expert witnesses for SBF have hourly rates ranging from $400 to $650.

In contrast, Peter Easton, an accounting professor at the University of Notre Dame and proposed witness for the prosecution, will charge $1,175 per hour, the court data shows.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to block all seven expert witnesses from testifying for SBF in court, citing that the proposed experts and their accompanying disclosures “suffer from an array of deficiencies” and fail to provide a basis for the opinions.

Difference between Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

“Where the defendant does disclose the expert’s opinions, the opinions are inappropriate subjects for expert testimony, lack a reliable methodology or basis in facts and data, or are irrelevant, unfairly prejudicial, and confusing to the jury,” the authority wrote.

The news comes amid the last deadline for SBF to request a postponement of the trial. If the request is filed by Sept. 1 and approved, SBF’s trial will be moved to March 11, 2024.

Bankman-Fried faces 12 criminal charges, which will be spread across two trials scheduled to begin on Oct. 2, 2023, and March 11, 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

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The differences between Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 are significant. Web 1.0, also known as the static web, was an early form of the internet where webpages were mostly static, and users had limited ability to interact with them. Web 2.0, also known as the interactive web, allowed users to interact and collaborate with each other, as well as with content. Web 3.0, also known as the semantic web, is a more advanced version of the internet that enables artificial intelligence (AI) to write articles, and uses expert AI to analyze and interpret data. Web 3.0 is also referred to as the metaverse, which is a virtual world built on a distributed ledger technology.

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