Lawyers for the disgraced crypto billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried, urged a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday to free him as preparations for his 3 October federal fraud trial steam ahead. On 11 August, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rescinded the bail of $250m after citing probable cause for tampering with witnesses.
Lawyers plead for Bankman-Fried release from jail before trial
This included sharing the personal correspondence of Caroline Ellison, former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Alameda Research hedge fund, with the New York Times. Ellison, who was romantically involved with the self-proclaimed cryptocurrency king, admitted to fraud and is a key witness in the case against Bankman-Fried.
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney and lawyers for Bankman-Fried have five minutes each to motivate their stances about the defendant getting out of jail or staying behind bars. A panel consisting of three judges will hear these arguments.
Legal representatives for the defence feel that their client’s rights are violated in prison under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as Bankman-Fried had a right to speak to the media, attempting to resuscitate what is left of his reputation.
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Bankman-Fried is up against seven charges of fraud and conspiracy after the now-bankrupt FTX crumbled. Allegations are that Bankman-Fried tried to shift funds to an unstable Alameda, bought luxury real estate, and donated money to political campaigns using FTX customer funds.
Despite acknowledging risk-management gaps, Bankman-Fried has not pleaded guilty to any of these charges. He maintains it is difficult to prepare for his coming trial while in jail as he does not have ready access to a computer or his lawyers to review large amounts of evidence.
