SBF Wants to Access Funds Belonging to FTX

According to court documents from January 28, SBF’s legal team is requesting the removal of a bail restriction that prevents him from retrieving FTX funds. 

In a letter to United States District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, argued that his client should have the potential to access the assets held by FTX as he had not previously engaged in unauthorized transactions.

The letter states that “nearly three weeks have passed since the initial pretrial conference and we assume that the Government’s investigation has confirmed what Mr. Bankman-Fried has said all along; namely, that he did not access and transfer these assets.” 

As requested by American authorities at the initial court hearing on January 3, Bankman-Fried was “prohibited from accessing or transferring any FTX or Alameda assets or cryptocurrency, including assets or cryptocurrency purchased with funds from FTX or Alameda.”

However, prosecutors stated at the time that a federal investigation was ongoing and that there was no proof that SBF had shifted money.

FTX Founder Contacted Potential Witness

Notably, after Bankman-Fried allegedly contacted Ryne Miller, the present General Counsel of FTX US, through email on January 15, the prosecutor submitted a request intending to “influence” Miller’s testimony. 

In the letter, a statement was made that stated: 

“For example, it would mean that Mr. Bankman-Fried could not speak to his therapist, who is a former FTX employee, without the participation of his lawyers.”

It is important to note that after being jailed in the Bahamas, where FTX is incorporated, Bankman-Fried was extradited to the US. In addition to two counts of wire fraud, he is charged with six counts of conspiracy, including an attempt to violate campaign finance laws and launder money.

He is currently bound to his parents’ California house with an electronic monitoring device after being freed on a $250 million bail.

The post SBF Wants to Access Funds Belonging to FTX appeared first on Blockchain, Crypto and Stock News.