Evidence presented as part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial shows that he held Binance responsible for leaking a balance sheet for Alameda Research to CoinDesk, the media outlet — a key episode in the collapse of FTX and his crypto empire. 

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison testified on Wednesday that Bankman-Fried had prepared a memo, dated November 6, 2022, outlining potential investors he and others planned to reach out to for a bailout.

In the document, Bankman-Fried wrote that Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, had been “engaging in a PR campaign against us.” 

“They leaked a balance sheet; blogged about it; fed it to Coindesk; then announced very publicly that they were selling $500m of FTT in response to it, while telling customers to be wary of FTX,” the …