Lawyers Present Several Examples for Defense
Sam Bankman Fried, the former CEO of FTX, has requested pre-trial release based on the argument that the federal prison lacks sufficient internet connection. SBF’s legal team claimed that the weak internet connection is hindering their defense preparations and causing delays. SBF’s bail was previously revoked, and his release requests have been denied multiple times.
The application made to the court on September 8 was the second request for release made within the past week, following the denial of SBF’s immediate release request by the Appeals judge on September 6. The judge then referred the request to the next three-judge panel. Despite the government’s assurance that SBF would have access to a laptop from 8 am to 7 pm on weekdays, his legal team argued that these promises were not fulfilled. The lawyers also provided several examples of SBF’s restricted access to the internet and laptop due to prison procedures.
The first example was on September 1 when Bankman-Fried was called back to his cell for a headcount at 2:30 pm, wasting four hours of preparation time. When Bankman-Fried attempted to access the discovery database, the weak internet connection allowed him to review only one document from the database. In the second instance on September 6, SBF was not taken out of his cell until 11:00 am. The legal team noted the following in their application:
“Despite the government’s efforts, there seems to be no solution to the internet access problem in the cell block. This means that Bankman-Fried cannot review and search documents in the discovery database or the AWS database before the trial. The defendant cannot adequately prepare for the trial under such restrictions.”
Immediate Release Cannot Occur Due to Violations
Following his arrest in the Bahamas on December 12 last year and his release on $250 million bail, SBF spent most of his time at his family’s home in California. However, after it was discovered that SBF was attempting to contact former FTX executives and witnesses in the case and intimidate them, his bail was revoked on August 11.
Since then, Bankman-Fried’s legal team has made numerous appeals for pre-trial release, but the judges reviewing these motions argued that he had violated the conditions of his bail multiple times and therefore cannot be released immediately.
