UPDATE: Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trial Date Now Up In The Air

August 31, 2023 1:08 pm Comments

Things aren’t going well for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. …

He has been remanded to the custody of the state, the Department of Justice is seeking to disqualify all of his expert witnesses, and the government has allegedly introduced 4 million new pages of discovery.

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are now asking the court for a delay in the start of the former CEO’s trial.

Originally set to begin on October 3, 2023, SBF’s trial date is now in doubt. His attorneys have until September 7, 2o23 to file for a postponement. …

Judge Kaplan has already stressed that this does not guarantee that the request will be granted.

Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett reports:

“SBF’s lawyers ask Judge Kaplan to release SBF into the custody of his parents so he can adequately prepare for trial.

“We implore the court to allow Mr. Bankman-Fried access to counsel and the material which can be accomplished by allowing him to be released in the custody of his parents subject to severe constraints. Nothing short of that will suffice.”

 

Terrett continued with this statement from Bankman-Fried’s lawyers: “The path the Government has chosen to take inevitably leads to inadequate representation which cannot be remedied as long as Mr. Bankman-Fried is incarcerated without internet access.”

 

Crypto Potato explained:

Should SBF’s request – which Judge Kaplan also indicated would be best received by Friday – be considered legitimate by the US Government, it must also be approved by the Bahamian legal system.

If the request is filed and approved, SBF’s trial will be moved to the 11th of March.

Cointelegraph provided a related update: “The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to bar all expert witnesses proposed to testify for SBF from the trial.”

 

Protos reports that the former, disgraced “SBF to offer friends $1,200 an hour to testify at his trial.” A hefty sum indeed. It remains to be seen if the DOJ will also seek to remove these witnesses as well.

 

News BTC provided this counter perspective:

Interestingly, before his bail was revoked, SBF had access to the Google documents, which form part of the documents the defense asks to be precluded as evidence.

The judge stated that the defense’s alleged “deluge of documents” was “seriously exaggerated.”

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