Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) attorney in his upcoming case against the Department of Justice of the United States renewed a request for his temporary release from prison to prepare for the trial.
Mark Cohen requested on September 25 that the presiding judge, Lewis Kaplan, grant SBF temporary release because it is “necessary for the preparation of [his] defense.”
“We submit that we are finding it exceedingly difficult as a practical matter to adequately prepare for trial with the restrictions on access currently in place.”
He continued the government and presented the defense with fifty witnesses and thousands of documents and exhibits. Cohen stated that they could not “properly represent” SBF if they could not confer with him and prepare for the witnesses and exhibits outside the courtroom.
Cohen argued that the case is “highly technical and complex” and that the legal team requires the client’s assistance to comprehend certain complexities. He wrote that third-party experts cannot replicate SBF’s “knowledge and insight.”
SBF must be in the presence of his attorneys at their place of business or accompanied by a security in a temporary residence in New York City when he is not in court.
It also stated that SBF would consent to a gag order for the trial, preventing him from speaking with anyone other than his attorneys, defense team, parents, and brother.
On September 21, a three-judge panel denied the former CEO of FTX’s request for early release from jail, deeming the attorneys’ arguments in the petition for release “unpersuasive.”
The same day, Judge Kaplan granted the prosecutors’ limine motions, preventing certain witnesses from testifying on behalf of SBF in the impending criminal trial.
On October 3, Bankman-Fried will stand trial for the first time on seven criminal offenses related to using user funds at FTX and Alameda Research. In March 2024, he will face five additional criminal offenses at his second trial. He has entered not-guilty pleas on all charges.
