Former SDNY prosecutor shares what the internet is getting wrong for SBF’s trial (w/ Josh Naftalis)

Chain Reaction

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Josh Naftalis, partner at law firm Pallas Partners.

He’s a long time attorney who represents companies, boards and executives in cases for white collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement matters, internal investigations, crisis management and more.

Prior to Pallas Partners, Josh was a federal prosecutor and served over a decade as assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. While at the SDNY he led a number of government white collar prosecutions and trials and as a senior member of SDNY’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Josh handled situations ranging from cryptocurrency to inside trading and market manipulation to corporate and accounting fraud. His work also involved coordination with other agencies like the SEC, CFTC, and FBI.

While at the SDNY, Josh secured convictions in every federal criminal trial that he led as an assistant U.S. attorney. So we saw him as the perfect person to dive into the eye grabbing trial of Sam Bankman-Fried who is fighting seven charges related to money laundering and fraud. SBF’s trial is also taking place at SDNY where Josh worked.

We talked about all the nitty gritty details of SBF’s trial: the prosecution's strategy, the defense’s strategy, how this case compares to ones that Josh previously led and how likely it is that jurors will reach a guilty verdict.

We also talked about:

• How many years SBF could face
• Importance of jurors
• Best witness testimonies so far
• Sentencing for other FTX execs
• Why he thinks SBF will testify

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Chain Reaction comes out every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.