By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 26th, 2024
The lawyers representing SBF noted that their client would require more time to prepare for the defense case in October.
FTX founder Sam Bakman-Fried‘s legal team argued on Friday that if he’s not granted the ability to leave jail, it would impose unreasonable difficulties in preparing for his criminal fraud trial scheduled for October.
As a result, Sam Bankman-Fried has recently sought permission to be out of jail five times a week. According to a letter sent to Judge Lewis Kaplan on Friday, as reported by Bloomberg, legal representatives for SBF stated that their client faced difficulties thoroughly reviewing the extensive document accumulation related to the case while confined to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. Christian Everdell, attorney for SBF, stated:
“Just last week the government produced three-quarters of a million pages of Slack communications, which were supposed to be produced months ago, that Mr. Bankman-Fried will have no hope of reviewing under this schedule.”
Everdell believes that if SBF can easily talk to his legal team and use a laptop with the internet at the courthouse, the legal process will speed up. The lawyer thinks this is important because SBF’s trial for fraud is supposed to begin in October.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers made a request while federal prosecutors also made their own filing on Friday. After Bankman-Fried’s lawyers indicated on Thursday that they would use an “advice-of-counsel” defense, they haven’t given any more information, according to the prosecutor’s office.
SBF’s Ongoing Case
Bankman-Fried was taken to a detention center in Brooklyn while in handcuffs a few weeks ago. This happened because his bail was taken away due to concerns about tampering with witnesses. This was a big change from when he was at his parents’ house in California, where he was on house arrest.
Bankman-Fried has said he’s not guilty of a bunch of crimes, like fraud and money laundering. These charges are connected to his role as the CEO of a crypto exchange called FTX, which went under last November.
His lawyers argue that the rules about who can see him and what he can use go against his rights under the Sixth Amendment. They say he should be able to see the evidence that’s being used against him. They also don’t think it’s fair that he’s only allowed visitors twice a week at the Metropolitan Detention Center. His lawyers point out that this goes against what the federal prosecutors promised, which was more lenient access for him.
“The [current] plan is entirely inadequate given the extraordinarily voluminous discovery in this case,” the lawyers said. “Internet-enabled discovery review is the only viable way.”