Bankman-Fried Lawyers Ask Judge for Client’s Temporary Release

Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers say their client can’t assist in his defense from behind bars.

Attorneys for the FTX founder turned accused cryptocurrency fraudster have asked a judge to temporarily release Bankman-Fried, arguing that his right to help in his own defense is being limited, as the documents he needs to access are only available digitally.

At the very least, Bankman-Fried should be allowed to meet with his lawyers five days a week, “where defense counsel can provide him with an internet-enabled computer that will permit him to review, edit, and share documents and work product with his attorneys,” read the motion, filed Friday (Aug. 25) in federal court.

Bankman-Fried, accused of orchestrating a multi-billion dollar fraud that brought down the FTX crypto exchange, had initially been free on bail awaiting trial following his arrest last year.

But earlier this month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that Bankman-Fried’s house arrest would end, agreeing with prosecutors that the defendant had passed information to reporters to intimidate a witness.

That witness, Caroline Ellison, was head of FTX sister firm Alameda Research, and a one-time friend/romantic partner of Bankman-Fried. She is expected to testify against him at his trial, scheduled for early October.

Before bail was revoked, attorneys said in the motion, Bankman-Fried was spending as much as 100 hours a week reviewing “voluminous” discovery documents provided by prosecutors, and had built a spreadsheet “with millions of cells of data” accessible only via the internet.

“The Government has already produced millions of pages of documents and terabytes of data in discovery, and apparently intends to produce millions more pages even at this late stage,” the motion said.

“Given Mr. Bankman-Fried’s extensive and irreplaceable knowledge of the companies in question and the relevant facts, and his resulting ability to locate relevant documents quickly and efficiently, there is no substitute for his work on the defense.”

The defense also asked Kaplan to block prosecutors from introducing future discovery, saying the government had recently produced more than 4 million pages from Bankman-Fried’s Google documents.

“Even if Mr. Bankman-Fried were out on bail and had unlimited time to review these documents, it would likely be impossible for him to finish reviewing them by the time of trial,” the motion said.

Kaplan is expected to hear arguments on the defense motion Wednesday (Aug. 30).

As PYMNTS wrote last week, the defense’s strategy will apparently involve placing blame on Fenwick & West, FTX’s one-time legal counsel.

“The defense intends to elicit evidence that Mr. Bankman-Fried was aware that Fenwick lawyers as well as in-house counsel for FTX…were involved in reviewing and approving decisions related to these matters and others, which gave him assurance that he was acting in good faith,” a court filing says.

PYMNTS has contacted Fenwick & West for comment but has not yet received a reply.