Sam Bankman-Fried and His Lawyers are Asking to Have Some Bail Conditions Lifted

Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried argue that their client, the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct FTX platform, should get access to the platform's assets and cryptocurrencies. As a basis for the above claim, the lawyers state that SBF is not liable for the earlier suspected illegal transactions.

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Sam Bankman-Fried was released on bail two months ago, shortly after stepping down as CEO of FTX. SBF is accused of fraud and money laundering, charges to which the former CEO pleaded guilty. The above bail was associated with high costs and several requirements. One of the conditions was that Bankman-Fried would not have access to bitcoins owned by FTX and its trading arm, Alameda Research. This condition also applies to cryptocurrency holdings acquired with FTX or Alameda funds. It came shortly after the government uncovered unauthorized transactions from Alameda's wallets.

In the letter, Mark Cohen, one of Bankman's attorneys, said that the government's research had already revealed that SBF could not access the assets and, therefore, could not move them three weeks after the first pretrial hearing.

Cohen subsequently told Southern District of New York Judge Lewis Kaplan that "since the sole basis on which this condition was requested has not been shown, we believe that the bail condition imposed at the conference should be revoked."

Prior to Cohen's aforementioned letter, the U.S. Department of Justice had filed a document requesting "restriction of communications"as one of the other bail conditions. This condition reportedly came about after Bankman-Fried contacted a potential witness in the case and attempted to speak with Ryne Miller, FTX's general counsel.

Cohen responded to the restrictions and essentially agreed to them. But on the other hand, he said Bankman-Fried should continue to be in contact with some of his former associates, including his therapist, George Lerner. Cohen argued that forcing his client to have attorney-client contact with former or current FTX employees at all times would be harmful to Bankman-Fried.

According to Cohen, these restrictions would harm Bankman-Fried's defense of this case and unduly drain his resources. Counsel further stated that these restrictions on communications would reduce Bankman's support for Fried, as the above-named employees, current and past, are known to be close friends of Bankman-Fried.

In addition, according to Cohen, Sam Bankman-Fried sought to "provide assistance," as evidenced by communications he sent to Miller and current FTX CEO John Ray. The recipients ignored the communications.

Source: coinwire.com