Sam Bankman-Fried has been painted as a “cartoon villain” by prosecutors whose case depends largely on hindsight, the former crypto tycoon’s lawyers told a Manhattan jury on Wednesday as they laid out their defense at the start of the hotly anticipated criminal trial.

In opening arguments earlier on Wednesday, US prosecutors had accused Bankman-Fried of committing “fraud on a massive scale,” lying to investors, lenders and customers of his FTX cryptocurrency exchanges.

“This man stole billions of dollars from thousands of people,” assistant US attorney Thane Rehn told jurors, pointing forcefully at Bankman-Fried, who sat impassively at the defense table.