FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers say attempt to jail him before trial is wrong
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried said Tuesday that prosecutors are wrong to seek his detention prior to trial because their arguments are built on «innuendo, speculation, and scant facts.» The written submission in Manhattan federal court was a response to the prosecution's claim last week that no bail conditions can stop the onetime cryptocurrency power broker from trying to improperly influence the potential jury pool for his October 2 trial. Bankman-Fried, 31, has been free on a $250 million personal recognizance bond since his December extradition from the Bahamas to face charges in New York that he defrauded investors in his businesses by diverting millions of dollars from their intended purpose.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. At a hearing last week, Judge Lewis A.
Kaplan told lawyers to submit written arguments before he decides if Bankman-Fried must be jailed or can remain confined to his parents' Palo Alto, California, home, where his electronic communications are severely limited and are monitored by the government. It was at that hearing that a prosecutor surprised defense lawyers with the request that their client's bail be revoked on the grounds that he gave personal writings of a key witness against him to a reporter for The New York Times in an effort to cast her in a bad light and influence potential trial jurors.
The witness, Caroline Ellison, was the CEO of Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency trading hedge fund affiliated with FTX, and had been in an off-and-on romantic relationship with Bankman-Fried prior to the collapse last November of FTX. Ellison pleaded guilty in December to criminal charges that carry a potential penalty of 110 years in prison.
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