• Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have urged the court to allow him access to the assets and cryptocurrency held by his former firm FTX.
• Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO of FTX on November 11th, 2022 after filing bankruptcy and is now out on bail after being charged with wire fraud and money laundering.
• Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s attorney wrote a letter to the court on January 28 asking that the bail condition imposed at the conference be lifted since the only basis presented for securing it has not been proved.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is making a plea to the court for access to the crypto assets held by his former firm FTX. SBF resigned as CEO of FTX on November 11th, 2022 after filing bankruptcy, and is currently out on bail after being charged with wire fraud and money laundering. He has maintained his plea of not guilty.
At the initial pretrial conference, SBF was released from detention on the condition that he give up his access to any cryptocurrencies held by FTX and its trading arm, Alameda Research. This ruling also applied to any cryptocurrencies purchased using FTX or Alameda money.
Mark Cohen, SBF’s attorney, sent a letter to the court on January 28th arguing that the defense team has assumed that the Government’s investigation has confirmed what SBF has said all along, namely that he did not access or transfer these assets, given the three weeks that have passed since the initial pretrial conference. Cohen further stated that the bail condition imposed ought to be lifted since the only basis presented for securing that condition has not been proved.
In addition, a document submitted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on January 27 said that the Government had not yet identified any cryptocurrency accounts linked to SBF, suggesting that the Government may not have found any evidence to support the bail condition.
As a result, SBF’s lawyers are asking the court to lift the bail condition, which would allow SBF access to the crypto assets and cryptocurrencies held by his former firm FTX. Whether or not the court will agree to this request remains to be seen.