Denies Sam Bankman-Fried Allegation of US Witness TamperingTable of Contents
Denies Sam Bankman-Fried Allegation of US Witness Tampering
By CoinUnited.io Research Team
2 min read
Prosecutors saw this as an effort to influence the witness, so they requested the judge to prevent Bankman-Fried from communicating with any current or former FTX workers (except from his father) without first consulting with an attorney. Additionally, the government has requested the court to limit Bankman-access Fried's to any encrypted communications programs he may have.
According to the petition, the inquiry showed that Bankman-Fried utilized the auto-delete feature on Slack and Signal to conduct FTX business, resulting in the loss of "incriminating chats."
After more than a week of conversations between the prosecution and defense, the defense for Bankman-Fried was taken aback by the submission by the prosecution on Friday night.
"The Government clearly feels that a one-sided presentation — twisted to cast our client in the worst possible light — is the best approach to attain the conclusion it desires," Cohen wrote in response.
Cooperating witness Caroline Ellison, former Alameda Research CEO Gary Wang, and FTX co-founder Cohen have all sought bail conditions that would prevent Bankman-Fried from contacting them. As part of his defense, Bankman-Fried would be allowed to keep in touch with his therapist, his father Joseph Bankman (who was associated with FTX), and any foreign regulators who might reach out to him.
When asked for comment on the defense's allegations, Nicholas Biase, spokesperson for Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams, whose office is prosecuting the case, did not answer right away to an email.
Since the collapse of his multibillion dollar cryptocurrency enterprise in November, Bankman-Fried has stood down as CEO of the FTX platform he co-founded. John J. Ray III, the company's new CEO and an expert in corporate reorganization, has rejected Bankman-offers Fried's of assistance in locating assets for the purposes of the bankruptcy.
The man in charge of Enron's liquidation has said that Bankman-Fried hasn't informed him anything new. Bankman-attorneys Fried's argue that Ray is not a "percipient witness" because he was not CEO until the bankruptcy filing and so knows nothing about the acts described in the indictment.
Federal court in Manhattan assigned to Bankman-case, Fried's Lewis Kaplan, granted prosecutors until Jan. 30 to answer to the defense's motion to amend bail terms later on Saturday.
Kaplan requested the government give him a copy of the Signal message and email Bankman-Fried sent to the current general counsel of FTX US, who is a witness in the case.
Since his release from custody in December on a $250 million bail package, Bankman-Fried has been residing at his parents' home in Palo Alto, California. He is accused of orchestrating a scam that went on for years at FTX, in which client monies were diverted to his own use or utilized for trading at his hedge fund subsidiary, Alameda Research.
The case number in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York is 22-cr-673 and it is entitled United States v. Bankman-Fried (Manhattan).
Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty to fraud, contacted the FTX employee, prompting federal prosecutors to request new bail terms for him on Friday.
Prosecutors saw this as an effort to influence the witness, so they requested the judge to prevent Bankman-Fried from communicating with any current or former FTX workers (except from his father) without first consulting with an attorney. Additionally, the government has requested the court to limit Bankman-access Fried's to any encrypted communications programs he may have.
According to the petition, the inquiry showed that Bankman-Fried utilized the auto-delete feature on Slack and Signal to conduct FTX business, resulting in the loss of "incriminating chats."
After more than a week of conversations between the prosecution and defense, the defense for Bankman-Fried was taken aback by the submission by the prosecution on Friday night.
"The Government clearly feels that a one-sided presentation — twisted to cast our client in the worst possible light — is the best approach to attain the conclusion it desires," Cohen wrote in response.
Cooperating witness Caroline Ellison, former Alameda Research CEO Gary Wang, and FTX co-founder Cohen have all sought bail conditions that would prevent Bankman-Fried from contacting them. As part of his defense, Bankman-Fried would be allowed to keep in touch with his therapist, his father Joseph Bankman (who was associated with FTX), and any foreign regulators who might reach out to him.
When asked for comment on the defense's allegations, Nicholas Biase, spokesperson for Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams, whose office is prosecuting the case, did not answer right away to an email.
Since the collapse of his multibillion dollar cryptocurrency enterprise in November, Bankman-Fried has stood down as CEO of the FTX platform he co-founded. John J. Ray III, the company's new CEO and an expert in corporate reorganization, has rejected Bankman-offers Fried's of assistance in locating assets for the purposes of the bankruptcy.
The man in charge of Enron's liquidation has said that Bankman-Fried hasn't informed him anything new. Bankman-attorneys Fried's argue that Ray is not a "percipient witness" because he was not CEO until the bankruptcy filing and so knows nothing about the acts described in the indictment.
Federal court in Manhattan assigned to Bankman-case, Fried's Lewis Kaplan, granted prosecutors until Jan. 30 to answer to the defense's motion to amend bail terms later on Saturday.
Kaplan requested that a copy of the Signal message and email sent by Bankman-Fried to the current general counsel of FTX US, who is a witness in the case, be provided to him by the government.
Since his release from custody in December on a $250 million bail package, Bankman-Fried has been residing at his parents' home in Palo Alto, California. He is accused of orchestrating a scam that went on for years at FTX, in which client monies were diverted to his own use or utilized for trading at his hedge fund subsidiary, Alameda Research.
The case number in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York is 22-cr-673 and it is titled US v. Bankman-Fried (Manhattan).
(From the 12th paragraph on, the information on the judge's order and the legal term has been updated.)
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