Actually yeah, this would allow the Dan Ariely defense. He said he got a spreadsheet from a company, and also insisted he didn't doctor the spreadsheet. But h

Actually yeah, this would allow the Dan Ariely defense. He said he got a spreadsheet from a company, and also insisted he didn't doctor the spreadsheet. But he also admits he was the only person who handled the spreadsheet (presumably to not through his collaborators under the bus). He simply says he doesn't know how to reconcile those facts -- that's "your problem" if you want to prove him guilty. But since there's no version control, there's no smoking gun. His defense is basically "I don't know what happened but I'm innocent" And plausibly some of the FTX defendants could have tried this, had they not left permanent records all over the place. They could have worked with zip files with no provenance :-P After all, the burden of proof is on the prosecution. (though of course I'm glad they did leave records, and wish Ariely would have)