FTX Scam: Sam Bankman-Fried denies witness tampering, seeks to avoid jail
1 min read 02 Aug 2023, 07:52 AM ISTFTX Scam: Founder of the bankrupt crypto exchange, Sam Bankman Fried, denied of making any attempt of witness tampering to seek relief from jail
PremiumThe indicted founder of the bankrupt FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried is likely to be awarded with a jail term by a US District Judge in Manhattan. To avoid jail, Sam Bankman is giving all sorts of arguments in front of the judge. In the court, Sam Bankman on Tuesday, said that he never sought to intimidate witnesses at his scheduled October fraud trial, and there is no reason to jail him, reported Reuters.
Bankman Fried's intentions were mischaracterised by prosecutorswhen he gave a New York Times reporter the writings of former romantic partner Caroline Ellison, said FTX CEO in a letter to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan. It is worth noting that Caroline Ellison is expected to testify against him in court.
"Mr. Bankman-Fried's contact with the New York Times reporter was not an attempt to intimidate Ms. Ellison or taint the jury pool," his lawyer, Mark Cohen, wrote in the letter.
Sam Bankman exercised his rights while giving information about Ellison to NYT
The letter also mentioned that Bankman-Fried only exercised his rights of making "fair comment on an article already in progress." Thirty-one-year-old, Sam Bankman-Fried, has pleaded not guilty to stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds. The theft was an attempt to compensate the losses at his hedge fund Alameda Research, where Ellison was chief executive. Since his December 2022 arrest, Sam has been largely confined to his parents' Palo Alto, California home on $250 million bond since his December 2022 arrest.
Caroline Ellison facing fraud charges in Manhattan Court
Ellison, along with three former members of Bankman's inner circle, was pleaded guilty of fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with the US Attorney's office in Manhattan.
Sam Bankman-Fried was barred from speaking about the case during the trial. Both sides were asked to submit their written arguments about possible jail.
In an affidavit submitted by the defense, Laurence Tribe, a Harvard University constitutional law professor, said Bankman-Fried had a right to “avoid projecting a false image of someone who is media-shy or, worse, someone whose consciousness of guilt makes him shun the media."
Other than justifying the contact with NYT reporter, Bankman's reporter presented another argument against his imprisonment. He said that restricted internet access at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he would be held, would leave him unable to prepare for trial. Prosecution will respond to his letter by Thursday.
