U.S. Judge Denies Sam Bankman-Fried’s Bid for Release From Jail Ahead of Trial

Bankman-Fried will go on trial next month.

Sam Bankman-Fried outside court in July 2023. (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will have to continue preparing his defense from behind bars after a federal judge refused his motion for a temporary release.

Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled Tuesday that Bankman-Fried was in a situation of his own making in refuting the onetime FTX CEO’s multiple motions for a pretrial release. Bankman-Fried was released on bond after his arrest, but the Southern District of New York judge revoked it last month after finding that the defendant had tried to interfere with witnesses on at least two occasions.

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“Whatever time pressure defendant now claims to face given the imminence of the trial date and the claimed limitations of his access to [electronically stored discovery and other material] while incarcerated largely would be of his own making,” the judge ruled.

Bankman-Fried’s attorneys tried to argue that he needs to be able to work on his own defense, which isn’t possible without accessing various online databases. The judge was unconvinced, writing that neither Bankman-Fried nor any other defendant has a right to inspect every piece of discovery that is produced.

While the defense team had a chance to request a postponement of the trial date, which is currently set to begin October 3, no such request was made, the judge added.

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Nikhilesh De

Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk’s managing editor for global policy and regulation. He owns marginal amounts of bitcoin and ether.

Follow @nikhileshde on Twitter