Odaily News Court documents show that U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said on Sunday that SBF cannot blame FTX’s collapse or operations on its lawyers in opening statements, although he can still try to mount a so-called “counsel advice” defense later. . Previously, the SBF defense team claimed that FTX lawyers were “involved” in some of the company’s decisions. But Judge Kaplan said the lack of specific details could confuse or bias jurors. While the judge prevented the SBF defense team from mentioning outside counsel in opening statements, SBF lawyers could try to raise the issue later if they notified the judge and the Justice Department in advance and the jury was not present. (CoinDesk) According to previous news in August, SBF plans to argue at the trial in October that his previous provision of funds to FTX and Alameda executives, setting Signal messages to automatically delete, and setting up a series of North American entities were all out of good faith. conduct because he followed the advice of attorneys, including the law firm Fenwick West. SBFs defense team issued a letter detailing its proposed counsel advice strategy, saying it would provide evidence that in-house counsel and law firm Fenwick West were involved in reviewing and approving decisions relating to these matters. The defendants reliance on counsels evidence is relevant to the question of intent and is not limited to circumstances where the defense can demonstrate that the defendant formally sought the advice of counsel, received legal advice and followed the advice given, the letter said.