Arguments to free FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried get rough reception from federal appeals panel
A federal appeals court in Manhattan seems unreceptive to arguments that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should be released before his trial starts in two weeks
NEW YORK — A federal appeals court in Manhattan seemed unreceptive Tuesday to arguments that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should be released on bail before his trial starts in two weeks so he can better prepare for trial.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Manhattan, and all three judges were dismissive of his lawyer’s claims that the First Amendment protects him from a judge’s conclusion that his actions while confined to his parents' home in Palo Alto, California, for eight months violated the conditions of his $250 million bail.
Bankman-Fried, 31, was extradited to the United States last December from the Bahamas to face charges that he stole billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits, spending tens of millions on his businesses, speculative investments, charitable donations and campaign contributions meant to influence cryptocurrency regulation in Washington.
Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty, was jailed Aug. 11. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan concluded he had tried to influence witnesses against him, most recently by showing a journalist the private writings of a former girlfriend who served as CEO of Alameda Research — Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency trading hedge fund — before FTX collapsed last November.
Kaplan said at a recent hearing that the diary-like writings by Caroline Ellison were of the kind that a former romantic partner was unlikely to share with anyone “except to hurt, discredit, and frighten the subject of the material.”
Bankman-Fried's lawyer, Mark Cohen, told the 2nd Circuit to overturn the revocation of bail so he can
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