https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/27/sam-bankman-fried-testifies/ > On Friday, Sam Bankman-Fried sat on the stand, once again in an oversized gray suit and purple tie, and testified in front of a jury. He’s on trial for seven charges related to fraud and money laundering and has been sitting silently the past four weeks, waiting for his chance to speak. > Bankman-Fried co-founded FTX in 2019 alongside Gary Wang, after they co-founded crypto trading firm Alameda Research in the fall of 2017. At the time, they were 25 years old with no history of starting a company, he said. When he got into the crypto world, he said he knew “basically nothing.” But over time, he said, his vision grew to “build the best [crypto exchange] product on the market” and to “move the ecosystem forward.”