NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Legal professionals for Sam Bankman-Fried on Saturday urged a U.S. choose to not ban the indicted FTX cryptocurrency government from speaking with former colleagues as a part of his bail, saying prosecutors “sandbagged” the method to place their consumer within the “worst doable gentle.”
The attorneys have been responding to a Friday evening request by federal prosecutors that Bankman-Fried not be allowed to speak with most workers of FTX or his Alameda Analysis hedge fund with out attorneys current, or use the encrypted messaging apps Sign or Slack and probably delete messages robotically.
Bankman-Fried, 30, has been free on $250 million bond since pleading not responsible to prices of fraud within the looting of billions of {dollars} from the now-bankrupt FTX.
Prosecutors stated their request was in response to Bankman-Fried's latest effort to contact a possible witness in opposition to him, the overall counsel of an FTX affiliate, and was wanted to stop witness tampering and different obstruction of justice.
However in a letter to U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, Bankman-Fried's attorneys stated prosecutors sprung the “overbroad” bail situations with out revealing that either side had been discussing bail over the past week.
“Reasonably than anticipate any response from the protection, the federal government sandbagged the method, submitting this letter at 6:00 p.m. on Friday night,” Bankman-Fried's attorneys wrote. “The federal government apparently believes {that a} one-sided presentation – spun to place our consumer within the worst doable gentle – is the easiest way to get the end result it seeks.”
Bankman-Fried's attorneys additionally stated their consumer's efforts to contact the overall counsel and John Ray, put in as FTX's chief government in the course of the chapter, have been makes an attempt to supply “help” and to not intervene.
A spokesman for U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams in Manhattan declined to remark.
Bankman-Fried's attorneys proposed that their consumer have entry to some colleagues, together with his therapist, however not be allowed to speak with Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang, who've pleaded responsible and are cooperating with prosecutors.
They stated a Sign ban is not essential as a result of Bankman-Fried will not be utilizing the auto-delete function, and concern he may is “unfounded.”
The attorneys additionally requested to take away a bail situation stopping Bankman-Fried from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency belongings, saying there was “no proof” he was answerable for earlier alleged unauthorized transactions.
In an order on Saturday, Kaplan gave prosecutors till Monday to handle Bankman-Fried's considerations.
“The courtroom expects all counsel to abstain from pejorative characterizations of the actions and motives of their adversaries,” the choose added.
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Modifying by Andrea Ricci
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