Legal professionals representing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, have claimed the “extraordinary lodging” provided by authorities have been inadequate to ensure that him to organize for his legal trial in October.
In an Aug. 25 submitting in United States District Court docket for the Southern District of New York, SBF’s authorized group mentioned the plan proposed by prosecutors to permit the previous FTX CEO entry to discovery supplies earlier than trial have been insufficient. Legal professionals mentioned the U.S. Justice Division produced roughly 4 million pages price of discovery supplies on Aug. 24 and there have been “thousands and thousands of pages of paperwork and terabytes of knowledge” left for SBF to assessment for his legal trial.
“We don’t consider that something in need of short-term launch will correctly deal with these issues and safeguard Mr. Bankman-Fried’s proper to take part in his personal protection,” mentioned the submitting. “Earlier than his bail was revoked, Mr. Bankman-Fried was spending 80-100 hours per week reviewing the voluminous discovery and creating detailed analyses that he may replace continuously and share along with his attorneys.”
Bankman-Fried had been free on a $250-million bond for roughly 8 months following his extradition from the Bahamas and arraignment within the U.S. in December 2022. Nevertheless, following allegations of witness intimidation of former Alameda Analysis CEO Caroline Ellison, a federal decide revoked his bail. Since Aug. 11, roughly two months earlier than the beginning of his first legal trial, SBF has been remanded to the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn.
Since his bail was revoked, SBF’s authorized group has been pushing for fewer restrictions permitting him time exterior jail so as to put together for trial. A decide dominated on Aug. 21 that SBF be allowed roughly seven hours within the New York courthouse cell block legal professional room on Aug. 22, and later issued an order giving him entry to the identical area with one laptop computer and wifi-enabled system on a seemingly limitless foundation offered his legal professionals gave 48 hours’ discover.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried wants fixed entry to an internet-enabled pc that permits him to assessment paperwork from discovery, search for related context for the proof on-line, draft and edit work product analyzing the paperwork and knowledge, and share these paperwork and analyses along with his attorneys,” claimed his authorized group. “The Authorities’s present plan […] comes nowhere near this.”
SBF’s first of two trials is scheduled to start on Oct. 3, through which he’ll face seven expenses associated to fraudulent actions involving consumer funds at FTX and Alameda Analysis. The second trial, scheduled for March 2024, will embody 5 different legal expenses.
In keeping with court docket filings, Bankman-Fried’s authorized group could pursue a protection claiming the previous CEO acted “in good religion” on recommendation of legal professionals from Fenwick & West and FTX’s in-house counsel. These allegedly unlawful actions included SBF directing that sure communications between FTX and Alameda workers be routinely deleted.
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