Sam Bankman-Fried's Legal Team Seeks Pre-Trial Release Due to Poor Prison Internet
Sam Bankman-Fried's legal team has once again requested a pre-trial release for their client due to poor internet access in the federal jail.
In a filing submitted to a federal judge on Friday, Bankman-Fried's lawyers argued that their client does not have access to adequate internet access to review documents as part of his defense.
The lawyers claimed that they have "lost time to effectively prepare for trial" due to conditions at the jail that hamper the defense's preparations.
According to his lawyers, the government assured them that SBF would have access to a laptop on weekdays from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m., but those hours have not been granted in practice.
In one instance on September 1, Bankman-Fried was called back to his cell at 2:30 p.m. for a headcount, costing him four hours of preparation.
In another instance on September 6, the lawyers said SBF was not released from his cell until 11 a.m.
They also claimed that SBF could hardly access the internet and lost more time just trying to upload a single document to their database for discovery material.
"Despite the government's efforts, there does not appear to be a way to solve the internet access problem in the cellblock. The defendant cannot prepare for trial with these kinds of limitations," wrote SBF's lawyers.
The defense's preparation has proven to be a logistical nightmare due to the sheer volume of material in the FTX case.
On August 28, federal prosecutors shared approximately four million pages in documents, a load the defense lamented would be too much to review, even if they had "unlimited review time" ahead of the first expected trial on October 3.
Initially, Bankman-Fried was allowed to prepare for his defense from his parent's home in Palo Alto,
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