Since the US Department of Justice indicted Sam Bankman-Fried on eight criminal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering, in mid-December, the unscrupulous FTX founder has strained his relationship with prosecutors.
At Bankman-Fried’s arraignment in early January, Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon accused the founder of FTX of transferring Alameda’s assets from a crypto wallet, successfully asking the judge overseeing the case to limit Bankman-Fried’s access to the company’s funds and stating that the word should not be used. believable, given the amount of false information that has been tweeted in the past month.
On Friday night, prosecutors announced new accusations against Bankman-Fried in a letter submitted to Judge Lewis Kaplan, stating that Bankman-Fried had communicated directly with the current general counsel of FTX US, called “Witness-1” and called. to Ryne Miller, a likely witness in the Bankman-Fried trial in October.
On January 15, prosecutors said, Bankman-Fried contacted Miller through the encrypted messaging platform Signal, as well as email, and wrote, “I’d really like to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship. Using each other as a resource power if possible, or at least check each other’s stuff.
Prosecutors added that Bankman-Fried had contacted other current and former FTX employees, describing what they described as “a history of using the app for obstructive purposes,” indicating that Bankman-Fried attempted to influence the testimony of potential witnesses.
Because of Bankman-Fried’s activities, prosecutors asked Judge Kaplan for two new bail conditions: Bankman-Fried cannot contact current and former employees of FTX or Alameda, and he is not allowed to use encrypted or ephemeral phone or messaging. platforms, such as Signal. Bankman-Fried is now allowed full access to the internet, which is believed to be one of the reasons he agreed to be extradited back to the United States from the Bahamas.
Prosecutors said the new conditions were needed to “prevent obstruction of justice.”
In a letter submitted to Judge Kaplan on Friday morning, the lawyer Bankman-Fried pushed back, writing that the government is “sandbagging” any efforts for the two teams to work together in changing the bail conditions.
According to Bankman-Fried’s attorney, prosecutors had told Bankman-Fried’s defense team on January 19 that they knew they had contacted John Ray, FTX’s new CEO, as well as Miller, who prosecutors considered inappropriate. He told Bankman-Fried’s attorney that he would seek additional bail conditions that would prevent Bankman-Fried from contacting potential witnesses without an attorney present.
Bankman-Fried’s attorney insisted that her client tried to publicly reach out to Ray for help with the bankruptcy and that she had the same charitable motive for reaching out to Miller, describing it as a “harmless attempt to provide assistance.”
Even so, he agreed to the proposed bail conditions to avoid a trial.
But now, her attorneys are arguing that prosecutors’ updated ban — which includes contact with all current or former employees, as well as restricting Bankman-Fried’s use of the messaging platform — goes beyond the scope of the proposed order.
“The government seems to believe that a one-sided presentation-spun to put our client in the worst possible light-is the best way to get success in pursuit,” Wrote lawyer Bankman-Fried, arguing that by filing a letter at 6:00 pm on the day Friday, the defense team would not be able to respond to the negotiations.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers proposed a different condition, which would prohibit Bankman-Fried from contacting several key figures of FTX, including Caroline Ellison, Zixiao “Gary” Wang, Nishad Singh, and “Witness-1,” or Ryne Miller, as well as “others who will discussed with the government.” They also don’t want their access to messaging platforms restricted.
Finally, he asked Judge Kaplan to remove the bail conditions imposed in January that prohibited Bankman-Fried from accessing the FTX and Alameda assets, arguing that the prosecution did not provide evidence that Bankman-Fried was behind the transfer since the end of December.
Attorney Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to a request for comment fortune.
The decision is now in the hands of Judge Kaplan.
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