NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried asked a U.S. judge on Thursday not to ban an indicted FTX cryptocurrency executive from contacting former colleagues as part of his bail, prosecutors said. He said he had “sandbagged” the process of destroying evidence. “Worst possible light” client.
Bankman-Fried said he would not speak to most employees of FTX or his Alameda Research hedge fund without the presence of a lawyer, or that they would be encrypted. You are not allowed to automatically delete messages using the messaging apps Signal or Slack.
Bankman-Fried, 30, has been acquitted of $250 million in debt since pleading not guilty to fraud charges that robbed the now-bankrupt FTX of billions of dollars.
Prosecutors said their request was in response to Bankman-Fried’s recent efforts to contact FTX Affiliates’ general counsel, who are potential witnesses against him, and that witness tampering and other judicial He said it was necessary to prevent interference.
But Bankman-Fried’s attorneys said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Louis Kaplan in Manhattan that prosecutors had “too broad,” without revealing that the two sides had discussed bail last week. It said it had set bail conditions.
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys wrote, “Rather than wait for a response from the defense, the government sandbags the process and submitted this letter at 6 p.m. Friday.” “The government clearly believes that a one-sided presentation, spun to put the client in the worst possible position, is the best way to get the results it seeks.”
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys also said that the client’s attempts to contact John Ray, general counsel, who was appointed as FTX’s chief executive officer during bankruptcy, were an attempt to provide “assistance” and interfered. said not to.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Damien Williams in Manhattan declined to comment.
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys suggested that the client have access to several colleagues, including a therapist, but Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the prosecution.
They say Bankman-Fried doesn’t use the auto-delete feature, so Signal’s ban isn’t necessary, and his concerns are “unfounded.”
The attorneys also sought to remove the bail conditions that prevented Bankman-Fried from accessing FTX, Alameda, or cryptocurrency assets, and that he was responsible for previously alleged fraudulent transactions. No,’ he said.
In Saturday’s order, Kaplan ordered prosecutors until Monday to address Bankman-Fried’s concerns.
“The court expects all counsel to refrain from disparagingly characterizing the actions and motives of the adversary,” the judge added.
Reported by Jonathan Stempel, New York.Edited by Andrea Ricci
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