Sam Bankman-Fried, the alleged creator of the long-gone FTX bank, asked for release from custody while vehemently denying any attempts to coerce witnesses.
Sam Bankman-Fried claimed that he never attempted to intimidate witnesses during his alleged October fraud case and that he sees no justification for being imprisoned in a letter submitted to Manhattan’s American district judge, Louis Kaplan.
There was no effort to intimidate or impugn the veracity of Ms. Caroline Alison, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s former love partner, his attorney Mark Cohen stated in the letter. He went on to say that making a remark on an ongoing article was a proper exercise of his rights. The 31-year-old Bankman-Fried has asked to not be presumed guilty despite being accused of stealing billions from FTX’s customer funds to offset losses at his hedge firm Almeda Research.
Since his detention in December 2022, he has been held in Palo Alto, California, at his parents’ home under stringent terms of a $250 million bail.
One of the three former Alison inner circle members named as suspects in the fraud charges and assisting the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office is Bankman-Fried.
Sam Bankman-Fried is not allowed to discuss the case with anybody, and Judge Kaplan has ordered both parties to submit written arguments outlining the likelihood of incarceration.
Harvard University constitutional law professor Lawrence Tribe said in an affidavit submitted by the defense that Sam Bankman-Fried has the right to avoid being painted in a misleading light by the media or, worse yet, becoming identified with the charges.
Additionally, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys claimed that his ability to prepare for the case would be hampered by the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn’s lack of internet connection.
Bankman-Fried’s letter must be responded to by the prosecutors by Thursday. When Judge Kaplan will make a decision is unknown.
