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Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried closed their arguments with similar stories to their opening statements more than three weeks ago: a tale of two Sams.\n\nOn Wednesday morning, day 17 of the trial, the government took jurors on a final grand tour of Bankman-Fried\u2019s alleged lies, evasions and misdirections that they said aimed to hide the ugly truth of a gaping $8 billion hole in the crypto exchange\u2019s balance sheet from investors and regulators, and that reflected his indifference to spending customer assets.\xa0\n\nAssistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Roos said that as the person overseeing FTX and the separate trading entity, Alameda Research, to which FTX funneled customer deposits, Bankman-Fried was the only person who could have been responsible for decisions that led to the deficit \u2013\xa0criminally so.\n\n\u201cHe told a story and he lied to you,\u201d said Roos, who punctuated his more than two-hour presentation with metadata readings and time tables that seemed to devastatingly illustrate SBF\u2019s ongoing awareness of his company\u2019s financial debacle.\n\nBut in the afternoon, Bankman-Fried\u2019s defense team portrayed him in softer tones, as a math nerd with no ill-intent and guilty only of bad management, particularly his failure to install adequate risk management protections. Attorney Mark Cohen said that the government had failed to prove its case as it sought to create a Hollywood villain responsible for the disappearance of the funds, cartooning his dress and personal habits to make their case. At one point, he seemed to appeal to jurors\u2019 emotions, reminding them that Bankman-Fried had lived a big life and now faces prison.\n\nBankman-Fried faces potentially decades in prison on a total of seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy. The prosecution will have an opportunity for rebuttal on Thursday, and jurors could begin deliberating his fate before the end of the day..\xa0\nOften raising his voice for dramatic effect, Roos highlighted earlier testimony from Bankman-Fried\u2019s inner circle and Google metadata indicating his awareness of the balance sheet woes to show his involvement in the company\u2019s oversight. Bankman-Fried testified on Monday that he was unaware of the problems, suggesting others were to blame.\xa0\nAnd Roos used the time tables to demonstrate separately that Bankman-Fried had lied to Congress about protecting customer assets even as he paid off loans using them, and that he had spent heavily on investments, political contributions and personal items, even after he knew of the massive balance sheet hole.\xa0\n\n\u201cThis was a pyramid of deceit built by the defendant on a foundation of lies and false promises, all to get money, and eventually it collapsed, leaving countless victims in its wake,\u201d Roos thundered.\nVisit UnchainedCrypto.com for prior episodes \nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices