Sam Bankman-Fried Demands Release From Jail, Says He's Being Denied Access To Tools Needed To Prepare For Trial

Sam Bankman-Fried Demands Release From Jail, Says He’s Being Denied Access To Tools Needed To Prepare For Trial

Updated: 11 September 2023

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Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried refuted the prosecution’s contention that the FTX founder has enough access to a laptop to prepare for his defence and demanded his release from jail.

“As we feared, the current plan does not work in practice and Mr. Bankman-Fried is not, in fact, getting `access to [an] internet-enabled laptop,’” they wrote in a Sept. 8 letter. “The description of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s access to the internet-enabled laptop in the 500 Pearl Street cellblock is inaccurate.”

They said Bankman-Fried has not had anywhere near the amount of air-gapped computer access that the Department of Justice arranged.

Lawyers cited a situation on Sept. 1, when Bankman-Fried was called back to his cell at 2:30 p.m. for a headcount that resulted in him losing 4 hours that was promised as time for him to prepare for his trial.

On September 6, he was released from his cell at 11 a.m., which caused him to lose the first 3 hours of his internet time, they added.

On top of that, once he finally got access to the laptop, he could barely access the internet due to a poor connection, which caused him to lose time trying to upload a single document, they said.

The attorneys wrote,

We therefore respectfully reiterate our request that the court order Mr. Bankman Fried’s temporary release.

https://twitter.com/melonpay_io/status/1700935908772704459

Bankman-Fried Had Bail Revoked For Witness Tampering

The new filing is only the latest in a long line of complaints that the former crypto mogul’s legal team has directed at the authorities.

They argued that there is no reliable way to solve the internet access issue in the cellblock, which effectively prevents the defendant from preparing for his own trial.

The amount of documentation that Bankman-Fried and his legal representatives must go through is massive. Federal prosecutors shared around four million pages in documents on August 28, and there is less than a month to review it with he trial scheduled for Oct. 2.

The defence argues their client’s deep knowledge of the facts is crucial for building a defence and that the arrangements are hindering his ability to properly defend himself.

Bankman-Fried was initially allowed to prepare for his trial while staying in his parents’ home in Palo Alto, CA. His bail was revoked in early August for witness tampering.