Attorneys for Sam Bankman-Fried have argued against the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) motion to remand the FTX founder into custody in a court filing Tuesday, saying it was based on an extremely thin factual basis. The filing also pushed back against the government’s claims that Bankman-Fried had violated the terms of his bond release on multiple occasions.
The Government is wrong. Its version of events mischaracterizes the facts and removes them from their proper context to cast Mr. Bankman-Fried’s actions and intentions in the most negative light possible, the filing said.
Prosecutors had alleged that Bankman-Fried had shared former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s personal diary with the New York Times in an attempt to harass her and potentially tamper with her testimony as a potential witness in his criminal trial in October 2023.
The defense filing argued that the DOJ had jumped to conclusions and had not shown that Bankman-Fried was trying to intimidate Ellison. It also said that Bankman-Fried’s use of a virtual private network was innocuous and that the DOJ had no evidence of wrongdoing.
The defense team further argued that locking Bankman-Fried up would deprive him of the ability to build a strong case, citing working conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he may be held. Bankman-Fried faces seven different charges, including securities and wire fraud allegations, with a trial currently scheduled to kick off in October.