Sam Bankman-Fried pressed in court over past comments

US prosecutors have pounced on public statements made by Sam Bankman-Fried as they cross-examined him about the collapse of his crypto empire.

They said there were inconsistencies between his media remarks and how his crypto exchange FTX was managed.

The 31-year-old is accused of lying to investors and lenders and stealing money from customers, with several ex-colleagues testifying against him.

He denies that and says he was acting in good faith but made mistakes.

Prosecutors pushed Mr Bankman-Fried, a high-profile public figure as head of now defunct firm FTX, about his past comments and social media posts.

In them he claimed that protecting customer and investor funds was a "priority" for FTX while his crypto trading firm, Alameda Research, was borrowing billions of dollars from FTX customers.