By
Godfrey Benjamin
May 13th, 2024
Civil proceedings from CFTC and the SEC will now have to wait.
A criminal trial slated for October is first on the order of things to come to the former CEO and founder of the FTX exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried. This follows after prosecutors recently requested that other civil cases against him be postponed until after the criminal trial. Interestingly, New York Judge Kevin Castel has now granted their request. This means that civil proceedings against Sam Bankman-Fried from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) will now have to wait.
According to court documents, prosecutor Damian Williams moved to postpone other cases to save time and resources on February 7. And justifiably so, considering that the outcome of the criminal case will most likely “impact on what issues are ultimately in dispute in the Civil Cases.”
Another reason that Williams gave was that the former CEO could gain access to information in the course of these other cases. To him, this may give SBF an edge during the criminal trial. Part of the document says Sam Bankman-Fried may:
“Improperly obtain impeachment material regarding the government’s witnesses, circumvent the criminal discovery rules, and improperly tailor his defense in the criminal case.”
Sam Bankman-Fried Allegedly Moves to Influence Witness Accounts
Meanwhile, a recent court ruling suggests that SBF may have been indulging in some witness tampering moves. As earlier reported by Coinspeaker, the FTX founder was banned from communicating with anyone. Those include old and new employees at the exchange. Shortly after the ban, his legal team also negotiated a deal to allow SBF to use unidentified encrypted apps to communicate. But despite claiming that the communication would be strictly supervised, their negotiation did not fly. And that is because Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York simply thinks otherwise. As part of SBF’s bail conditions, Judge Kaplan insists that he cannot use any encrypted messaging apps until February 21.
The judge’s rule indicates that the court is more concerned with seeing this case through rather than seeking some form of convenience for SBF.