‘Maximize utility’
In addition to Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, Ellison was a key lieutenant in Bankman-Fried’s crypto conglomerate. However, having dated Bankman-Fried on and off since the fall of 2018, she had arguably a more privileged window into the FTX founder’s mind.
On Tuesday, she testified that Bankman-Fried had at one point told her that he gave himself a 5% chance “he would become president someday,” hinting at his alleged egotism. “When you say ‘president,’ what are you referring to?” asked Danielle Sassoon, the prosecutor questioning her. “Of the United States,” responded Ellison.
On Wednesday, Ellison gave the jurors a further glimpse into Bankman-Fried’s potential motivations for allegedly committing fraud. Shortly after the lunch break, she said that Bankman-Fried was a utilitarian, meaning that “he thought the only moral value that mattered was whatever would maximize utility,” which she explained as “essentially trying to create the greatest good for the greatest number of people or beings.”
And as opposed to other utilitarians, Bankman-Fried saw that “rules like ‘don’t lie’ or ‘don’t steal’ didn’t fit into that framework,” she said, adding that his views slowly influenced hers.
“When I started working at Alameda,” she testified, “I don’t think I would have believed [it] if you told me that a few years later I would be sending false balance sheets to our lenders or taking customer money.”