Sam Bankman-Fried doubled down Friday on the narrative that the FTX crypto exchange failed due to mistakes rather than malfeasance and that his underlings made the major bungles in his first day testifying before jurors.

For example, he told the court he had asked Alameda Research, the hedge fund he founded with close ties to FTX that was run by his on-and-off girlfriend Caroline Ellison, to hedge its risks.

However, when asked by his defense lawyer in the criminal case whether Ellison heeded his advice that Alameda should “get shorter” to mitigate its risks and shrink its multi-billion-dollar hole, Bankman-Fried replied tersely, “no.”

The fallen crypto mogul, who stands accused of fraud and conspiracy, began his testimony in front of jurors Friday by saying he made mistakes at his now-fallen crypto behemoth FTX – the biggest being not employing a risk manager – and "a lot of people got hurt."

Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, spent the bulk of Friday morning walking his client through the early days of the FTX exchange and Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's trading firm. The focus was on spinning prosecutors' narrative about the companies' collapse into a story more favorable to the defendant – portraying the firms as legitimate and well-intentioned businesses, and providing context to explain the motivations behind controversial business decisions.