Weekly update on the third week of the court proceedings for Sam Bankman-Fried

In a shocking turn of events at the ongoing FTX trial, a series of revelations have emerged regarding the use of customer funds in significant investments and political donations.

Peter Easton, a Notre Dame University accounting professor, testified on behalf of the government, shedding light on the matter. According to his statements, customer funds were used for most of a $550 million FTX investment into Bitcoin mining firm Genesis Digital Assets, for all of FTX's purchase of Bahamas-based financial firm Modulo Capital, and for purchasing most of FTX's investment in SkyBridge Capital.

Nishad Singh, the former chief engineer of FTX, discovered Alameda Research's covert use of FTX customer funds by June 2022. However, it seems Singh was not aware of FTX's troubling financial state until two months before the exchange filed for bankruptcy.

The court has taken a break from Monday to Wednesday, with the defense's case set to resume thereafter. Notably, Nishad Singh has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy and is cooperating with the government's trial against his former co-worker.

In a separate development, it was revealed that customer funds funneled to political donations were often done under Nishad Singh's name. Singh admitted his role in these donations was to simply click a button to send them from his bank account. He was also accused of giving signed blank checks to political organizations, including Gabe Bankman-Fried's pandemic-prevention organization.

Bankman-Fried's lawyers requested a trial delay due to his Adderall requirement, a request that was denied by Judge Lewis Kaplan. The nature and timing of Bankman-Fried's legal defense are still undecided, with his lawyer Mark Cohen yet to make a decision on the matter.

Interestingly, Easton was also involved in the Enron investigation 22 years ago, testifying on behalf of the government in that case. No information in the provided search results identifies institutions that used FTX customers' borrowed funds to invest in Bitcoin mining or other investments.

As the trial continues, more revelations are expected to come to light, shedding further light on the inner workings of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange.