In an 18-page letter to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, Sam Bankman-Fried's defense counsel, argued against the U.S. government's recent motion to revoke his bail.
The Defense called the arguments "extremely thin" and "relying heavily on assumptions, unsupported inferences, and innuendo."
In a hearing on July 26, the Department of Justice representing the government in the case against the former crypto exec argued to revoke his bail, accusing him of “witness tampering and obstructing justice.”
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DOJ Doesn't 'Intend to Proceed' With Campaign Finance Charge Against Sam Bankman-Fried
The U.S. Department of Justice has decided to drop one of the charges against Sam Bankman-Fried relating to political donations, citing "treaty obligations" with The Bahamas. The DOJ informed Judge Lewis A. Kaplan via a letter dated July 26 that it does not intend to proceed with the trial on the “unlawful campaign contributions” count. Campaign finance laws are connected to political donations, and charges can be brought against individuals or entities involved in the political process, includi...
Judge Kaplan had asked the two parties to submit written statements over the matter.
On July 28, the DOJ submitted its motion, accusing Bankman-Fried of leaking documents to a New York Times reporter intended to tamper with a key witness, former CEO of Alameda Research and Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, among other things.
The defense replied to the government's motion on Tuesday. The DOJ nor Bankman-Fried’s defense immediately responded to Decrypt’s request for comment.
‘Innuendo is not evidence’, says Bankman-Fried defense
Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the now-defunct FTX exchange and Alameda Research, was arrested in the Bahamas before being extradited to the United States.
Nine days later, on December 21, he secured release on bail. The DOJ now wants to put Bankman-Fried back in remand.
During last Wednesday’s hearing, the government argued that the defendant had over 100 phone calls with a New York Times reporter in which he shared personal documents of Ellison that were not part of the Government's discovery material.
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FTX Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, SBF Steps Down as CEO
The FTX crisis of the past few days has reached its conclusion: bankruptcy. In a press release shared on Twitter, the crypto exchange announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy "to begin an orderly process to review and monetize assets for the benefit of all global stakeholders." The firm's sister entity algorithmic trading firm Alameda Research, its American subsidiary FTX.US, and roughly 130 affiliated entities will also be filing for bankruptcy. Ledger X LLC, FTX Digital Markets Lt...
To which, the defense wrote on Tuesday that “innuendo is not evidence,” saying that the government had no proof that Bankman-Fried shared the documents.
The defense explained that Bankman-Fried shared documents with the reporter that were already known to the reporter. His counsel went on to accuse the government of sharing the documents and demanded that there should be a hearing on this issue.
The government had also argued that Bankman-Fried used the encrypted messaging application Signal to communicate with other witnesses and used a virtual private network (VPN) to hide his online activity.

FTX Reboot Pitches New Offshore Exchange for Users
FTX Trading Ltd., under the leadership of its new CEO John J. Ray III, has unveiled a new draft plan to "reboot" the collapsed crypto exchange. The proposal, released on Monday, offers FTX.com claimants the chance to hold equity securities, tokens, or other interests in a newly formed offshore company. The draft plan outlines the debtors' strategy to categorize claimants into distinct groups. Users of the FTX.com offshore exchange will be classified as "Dotcom customers," while FTX US users will...
The court had previously barred Bankman-Fried from contacting FTX and Alameda employees or using encrypted communications in February.
The defense noted that Bankman-Fried was within his rights to use Signal and produced evidence to show that Bankman-Fried’s actions were not “of bad faith or improper intent” and he was using “VPN to watch football.”
Other arguments included in the defense counsel’s letter were that the Metropolitan Detention Center would hinder his defense efforts as inmates do not have internet access and it is “currently in a staffing crisis.”