- Sam Bankman-Fried’s defense lawyers have filed a motion to release him temporarily until the subsequent trial commences.
- His lawyers objected to the prosecutor’s document dump of over four million pages.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s Defense Attorneys Seek His Temporary Release
The collapsed FTX founder’s defense lawyers are urging a district court to release him temporarily. They stated that meeting his lawyers twice a week to prepare his case is a grave limitation on his rights compared to the daily meetings he was accustomed to before he went to jail.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are pushing for his temporary release five days a week to enable him to review the documents for his case, which are only available in digital format.
The FTX founder was previously on house arrest at his parent’s residence but after evidence of him tampering with a witness popped up, Judge Lewis, the judge in charge of the case, revoked his bail and sent him to jail before his trial in October.
In a letter dated Friday, Christian Everdell, a defense attorney of Sam Bankman-Fried, stated that,
“We do not believe that anything short of temporary release will properly address these problems and safeguard Mr. Bankman-Fried’s right to participate in his own defense.
At the very least, however, we respectfully request that the Court reconsider its previous decision and order the Marshals to produce Mr. Bankman-Fried to the proffer rooms at 500 Pearl Street five days a week, where defense counsel can provide him with an internet-enabled computer that will permit him to review, edit, and share documents and work product with his attorneys. Defense counsel will be present with Mr. Bankman-Fried the entire time and will take back the laptop at the end of the session.”
The letter sent on Friday by Bankman-Fried’s defense attorney reiterated the need for Fried to access a laptop and good internet.
While Bankman-Fried was at the courthouse in Manhattan, he had access to the internet for six hours a day, twice a week. The letter mentioned these facts, citing that the laptop had a weak battery and the internet access was not strong.
Sam Bankman-Fried is currently at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, where he has no access to a laptop or internet. According to his defense team, Bankman-Fried has not had access to review the documents sent to him in preparation for the trial since he was jailed at the MDC weeks ago.
“Bankman-Fried does not have access to any discovery or work product at the MDC and has not had any such access since he was detained two weeks ago,”
Christian Everdell, the author of the letter, said.
“At the Government’s invitation, we have been sending hard drives to Mr. Bankman-Fried with selected documents and work products for him to review at the MDC. But, Mr. Bankman-Fried does not have a laptop at the MDC that he can use to review them. This means that there is almost nothing Mr. Bankman-Fried can do at the MDC to prepare for trial.”
In the letter sent on Friday, Bankman-Fried’s defense attorneys objected to the voluminous documents sent in discovery by the prosecuting team.
The defense team stated that they received about four million pages of documents from the prosecutor.
“This is fundamentally unfair and should not be permitted,” the lawyers said.
