© Reuters. Indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the US Courthouse in New York Metropolis, U.S., July 26, 2023. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted founding father of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency change, on Tuesday mentioned he never sought to intimidate witnesses at his scheduled October fraud trial, and there would possibly perchance be no reason to jail him.
In a letter to U.S. District Identify Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, Bankman-Fried mentioned prosecutors mischaracterized his intentions in giving a New York Times reporter the writings of former romantic partner Caroline Ellison, who is anticipated to testify in opposition to him.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried’s contact with the New York Times reporter used to be no longer an strive to intimidate Ms. Ellison or taint the jury pool,” his authorized professional, Label Cohen, wrote in the letter. “It used to be a factual exercise of his rights to fabricate heavenly observation on an article already in development.”Bankman-Fried, 31, has pleaded no longer guilty to stealing billions of bucks in FTX customer funds to dawdle losses at his hedge fund Alameda Analysis, where Ellison used to be chief executive.
He has been largely confined to his dad and mother’ Palo Alto, California dwelling on $250 million bond since his December 2022 arrest.
Ellison is one amongst three former individuals of Bankman-Fried’s internal circle who pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s discipline of job in Manhattan.
Kaplan barred Bankman-Fried from speaking relating to the case and asked all aspects to submit written arguments about doable jail.
In an affidavit submitted by the defense, Laurence Tribe, a Harvard University constitutional law professor, mentioned Bankman-Fried had a factual to “establish away from projecting a fake checklist of anyone who is media-skittish or, worse, anyone whose consciousness of guilt makes him shun the media.”
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys also argued that restricted recordsdata superhighway get entry to at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he shall be held, would proceed him unable to put collectively for trial.
Prosecutors would possibly perchance respond to Bankman-Fried’s letter by Thursday. It’s no longer identified when Kaplan will rule.
