Legal professionals representing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, have claimed the “extraordinary lodging” provided by authorities had been inadequate to ensure that him to organize for his prison trial in October.
In an Aug. 25 submitting in United States District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York, SBF’s authorized workforce mentioned the plan proposed by prosecutors to permit the previous FTX CEO entry to discovery supplies earlier than trial had 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 overview for his prison trial.
“We don’t imagine that something wanting short-term launch will correctly handle 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 “Earlier than his bail was revoked, Mr.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 every week reviewing the voluminous discovery and creating detailed analyses that he might replace consistently and share together 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. Nonetheless, 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 prison trial, SBF has been remanded to the Metropolitan Detention Middle in Brooklyn.
Since his bail was revoked, SBF’s authorized workforce has been pushing for fewer restrictions permitting him time outdoors jail to be able to put together for trial.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 house with one laptop computer and wifi-enabled machine on a seemingly limitless foundation offered his legal professionals gave 48 hours’ discover.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried wants fixed entry to an internet-enabled laptop that enables him to overview paperwork from discovery, lookup related context for the proof on-line, draft and edit work product analyzing the paperwork and information, and share these paperwork and analyses together with his attorneys,” claimed his authorized workforce. “The Authorities’s present plan […] comes nowhere near this.”
SBF’s first of two trials is scheduled to start on Oct. 3, wherein he’ll face seven fees associated to fraudulent actions involving consumer funds at FTX and Alameda Analysis. The second trial, scheduled for March 2024, will embrace 5 different prison fees.
In response to courtroom filings, Bankman-Fried’s authorized workforce might 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 staff be mechanically deleted.
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