FTX Bankman-Fried Hearing about Signal Remains on Despite Prosecutors' Deal on Undisclosed Names But Still No Appeal
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell book Song
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 6 – Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, leading to his arrest in the Bahamas on December 12, and extradition to the US on December 21. He was released on $250 million bond - and reappeared on January 3, see below - with the requirement of co-signers.
But he wants them secret: "LETTER MOTION addressed to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan from Mark S. Cohen dated January 3, 2023 re: Request to Redact Names and Identifying Information for Certain Bail Sureties . Document filed by Samuel Bankman-Fried. (Cohen, Mark)." Six page letter on Patreon here -
Inner City Press nearly immediately opposed, here. That was Docket Number 31. Even after that, other defendants had their co-signers named in open court, like hedge funder and fraud defendant Neil Phillips, here.
On January 30, Judge Kaplan granted the motion to unseal - but stayed the order until February 7 to allow for an appeal. Inner City Press (Matthew Russell Lee, intervenor pro se) unloaded the order to DocumentCloud here
On February 1, Judge Kaplan ordered: "ORDER as to Samuel Bankman-Fried regarding the Goverment's 1/27/2023 letter motion for bail modification: "The Court will hear argument on this matter."
But on February 6, Bankman-Fried's counsel wrote to describe a(nother) deal with prosecutors, saying if Judge Kaplan approves it, the hearing should be canceled: "On behalf of our client, Samuel Bankman-Fried, we respectfully submit this letter to advise the Court that the parties have reached an agreement concerning Mr. Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions after the Government exempted certain individuals from the proposed no-contact condition at the defense’s request. As a result of those discussions, the parties propose a modification ... If the Court approves the conditions, the defense will withdraw its request to remove the asset transfer condition and we respectfully request that the Court cancel the oral argument scheduled for February 9, 2023." Full letter on Patreon here.
But on February 7, Judge Kaplan said no: "denying [61] LETTER MOTION addressed to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan from Mark S. Cohen dated 2/6/23 re: Request to Modify Bail Conditions. ENDORSEMENT: The letter motion (Dkt 61) is denied without prejudice pending oral argumentdenying [61] LETTER MOTION addressed to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan from Mark S. Cohen dated 2/6/23 re: Request to Modify Bail Conditions. ENDORSEMENT: The letter motion (Dkt 61) is denied without prejudice pending oral argument."
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