Sam Bankman-Fried takes the stand to testify — but the judge wants to know what he’s going to say before he allows a jury to hear it

• Sam Bankman-Fried took the witness stand on Thursday after days of testimony from his inner circle.
• The FTX cofounder is facing seven charges of fraud over the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
• Bankman-Fried’s testimony could be a last-ditch effort for his defense, but it could also be risky.

Sam Bankman-Fried took the witness stand Thursday to testify in his own defense in the criminal trial involving FTX’s collapse.

The jury was dismissed before the FTX cofounder began his testimony. Judge Lewis Kaplan said some of Bankman-Fried’s testimony would occur without the jury present so that he could decide whether it could be used as evidence.