NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried on Saturday urged a US choose not to ban the indicted FTX cryptocurrency executive from speaking with former colleagues as aspect of his bail, saying prosecutors “sandbagged” the method to place their client in the “worst attainable light.”
The attorneys were being responding to a Friday night request by federal prosecutors that Bankman-Fried not be authorized to discuss with most staff of FTX or his Alameda Analysis hedge fund with no attorneys current, or use the encrypted messaging applications Sign or Slack and perhaps delete messages instantly .
Bankman-Fried, 30, has been absolutely free on $250 million bond considering the fact that pleading not responsible to costs of fraud in the looting of billions of dollars from the now-bankrupt FTX.
Prosecutors mentioned their ask for was in reaction to Bankman-Fried’s modern hard work to call a possible witness versus him, the normal counsel of an FTX affiliate, and was needed to stop witness tampering and other obstruction of justice.
But in a letter to US District Decide Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers claimed prosecutors sprung the “overbroad” bail conditions with no revealing that the two sides experienced been speaking about bail above the past 7 days.
“Fairly than wait around for any response from the protection, the federal government sandbagged the approach, filing this letter at 6:00 pm on Friday evening,” Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals wrote. “The government seemingly believes that a a single-sided presentation – spun to put our shopper in the worst feasible gentle – is the finest way to get the result it seeks.”
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys also stated their client’s endeavours to speak to the basic counsel and John Ray, mounted as FTX’s main govt through the personal bankruptcy, were tries to offer “assistance” and not to interfere.
A spokesman for US Lawyer Damian Williams in Manhattan declined to remark.
Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals proposed that their shopper have accessibility to some colleagues, which include his therapist, but not be permitted to chat with Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang, who have pleaded responsible and are cooperating with prosecutors.
They claimed a Sign ban just isn’t vital simply because Bankman-Fried is not utilizing the vehicle-delete aspect, and worry he could possibly be “unfounded.”
The attorneys also questioned to take away a bail issue protecting against Bankman-Fried from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency belongings, indicating there was “no evidence” he was accountable for previously alleged unauthorized transactions.
In an buy on Saturday, Kaplan gave prosecutors right until Monday to deal with Bankman-Fried’s considerations.
“The courtroom expects all counsel to abstain from pejorative characterizations of the actions and motives of their adversaries,” the decide additional.
Reporting by Jonathan Stamp in New York Modifying by Andrea Ricci
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