Clinton Judge Rules Two People Behind SBF’s Bail Must Stay Anonymous

On Tuesday, the Bill Clinton appointed Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, ruled the identities of two people responsible for securing SBF’s bond will remain anonymous.

SBF’s lawyers originally argued, “If the two remaining sureties are publicly identified, they will likely be subjected to probing media scrutiny, and potentially targeted for harassment, despite having no substantive connection to the case,”.

The disgraced FTX founder’s lawyers would continue “Consequently, the privacy and safety of the sureties are ‘countervailing factors’ that significantly outweigh the presumption of public access to the very limited information at issue.”

Their argument was enough for Judge Kaplan who granted SBF’s request.

Previously Kaplan oversaw all matters relating to the Virginia Giuffre v. Prince Andrew case, which was a lawsuit that claimed Prince Andrew sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre in Epstein’s New York estate.

After Judge Kaplan granted Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers' request to redact the names of the co-signers for SBF's $250 million bond yesterday, @innercitypress has filed an application to unseal their names and information pic.twitter.com/c89e3jkDVt

— Leo Schwartz (@leomschwartz) January 4, 2023

Bloomberg previously reported about SBF’s motion:

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried asked a judge to keep confidential the identities of two people who will help secure his bail to protect them from public scrutiny and potential harassment.

Lawyers for Bankman-Fried filed a letter seeking redactions of the names of the two people who intend to sign on as sureties to his $250 million bail package, saying there is no need for public disclosure. Their request was granted Tuesday by US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in New York, after Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges. A trial date was set for Oct. 2.

Courts frequently require sureties to sign onto significant bail packages to ensure a defendant’s appearances in court. Defense lawyers sometimes seek to mask the identities of the sureties to protect them from public scrutiny. Kaplan said he’d consider any requests seeking disclosure of the names, as long as they were filed with the court by Jan. 12.

“If the two remaining sureties are publicly identified, they will likely be subjected to probing media scrutiny, and potentially targeted for harassment, despite having no substantive connection to the case,” Bankman-Fried’s lawyers wrote. “Consequently, the privacy and safety of the sureties are ‘countervailing factors’ that significantly outweigh the presumption of public access to the very limited information at issue.”

New replacement US District Judge Lewis Kaplan just ruled that the two sureties and their guarantees will remain sealed.

— Bob Bishop – Forensic Investigator (@BobBish40288847) January 3, 2023

Judge Kaplan wasn’t supposed overseee SBF’s case but was brought in as a replacemet after the orginal Judge had connections to FTX.

Inbox:

Sam Bankman-Fried's case has just been reassigned to SDNY Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over —

* Prince Andrew's Epstein-related litigation,

* E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against former President Trump.

and numerous other big trials.

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) December 27, 2022

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