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A U.S. district judge has once again shot down Sam Bankman-Fried\u2019s request to be temporarily released from prison before his upcoming trial.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Bankman-Fried\u2019s lawyers submitted a formal request for the former FTX CEO to be released on October 2, the day before his trial is scheduled to begin.<\/p>\n
The lawyers argued that Bankman-Fried\u2019s temporary release for the duration of the trial is necessary for the preparation of his defense, citing the highly technical nature of the trial, the prosecution\u2019s list of more than 50 witnesses, and the need to comb through thousands of pages of witness material and more than 1,300 exhibits.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, however, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan denied<\/a> the request \u201cfor reasons stated on the record this date.\u201d<\/p>\n Bankman-Fried was out on a $250 million bail and staying at his parent\u2019s house in Palo Alto, California following his arrest in December. But federal prosecutors successfully had his bail\u00a0revoked<\/a> in August based on allegations that he engaged in witness tampering.<\/p>\n Later that month, Bankman-Fried\u2019s attorneys first requested his pretrial release, arguing that his stay at Brooklyn\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) prison reduces his access to discovery in the case \u201cfrom seven days a week\/80-100 hours a week to (at most) two days a week\/six hours a day.\u201d<\/p>\n Kaplan first denied<\/a> the request for pre-trial release on September 12th, ruling that Bankman-Fried had \u201cnot made any detailed showing as to specific materials that he claims he has been unable to access personally and the reasons why any such personal inability actually would impede his defense.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge also noted that Bankman-Fried hadn\u2019t requested to postpone the trial despite his offer to consider doing so.<\/p>\n The FTX founder has been charged with defrauding investors and mishandling billions of dollars worth of customer funds related to the exchange\u2019s collapse last year. If convicted, he faces decades behind bars.<\/p>\n Don’t Miss a Beat \u2013 Subscribe<\/a> to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox <\/span><\/em>
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