Sam Bankman-Fried's Complaints About Discovery Are 'Misleading,' DOJ Says

Federal prosecutors person challenged FTX laminitis Sam Bankman-Fried’s allegations that prosecutors dumped “millions” of pages worthy of imaginable grounds connected the erstwhile CEO’s defence squad conscionable 2 months up of his transgression trial, a Tuesday tribunal filing shows.

The missive to Judge Lewis Kaplan comes aft Bankman-Fried requested connected Friday that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York barroom a ample stack of documents from being admitted arsenic grounds astatine his October trial. In the letter, prosecutors allege that the millions of pages of find flagged by Bankman-Fried person been accessible to the erstwhile enforcement done his Google accounts for months.

Bankman-Fried “cannot plausibly assertion to beryllium prejudiced by the Government’s

production of these materials, arsenic helium had months anterior to being detained to excavation them for materials applicable to his defense,” prosecutors said successful the filing.

Still, Bankman-Fried connected Friday (and again connected Monday) pleaded for Judge Kaplan to barroom the national authorities from introducing grounds produced aft July 1, 2023, arguing helium wouldn’t person capable clip to reappraisal each the materials earlier trial. He besides argued that his confinement to a high-security situation successful Brooklyn, NY, would bounds his entree to the astir caller swath of documents prosecutors person shored up.

Sam Bankman-Fried is presently successful pre-trial detention astatine Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, wherever helium landed aft losing his bail earlier this month. Judge Kaplan revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail aft ruling the erstwhile executive’s alleged leaking of the backstage writings of Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison to the New York Times and efforts to interaction his co-conspirators constituted witnesser tampering and a “threat to the community.”

Prosecutors utilized Bankman-Fried’s leaking of documents from his Google Drive relationship to reason that helium inactive had entree to the relationship – wherever the find materials came from – until precise recently.

“He identified documents from his Google accounts that helium believed would discredit 1 of the Government’s cooperating witnesses and provided them to a wide work publication,” the DOJ said successful its filing.

In the filing, prosecutors besides alleged Bankman-Fried took actions to thwart the government’s attempts to summation entree to evidence. Bankman-Fried whitethorn person mislabeled definite documents arsenic “privileged” to “improperly shield applicable grounds from the Government.” Specifically, they suggest the FTX laminitis whitethorn person asserted privilege implicit communications involving his lawyer parents adjacent though helium ne'er technically employed them arsenic ineligible counsel.

“[T]he defendant’s parents received millions of dollars successful spot paid for by the company, and the defendant’s begetter was contiguous with the suspect successful the last days of the company, portion it was collapsing,” the DOJ said successful its letter. “There is frankincense beardown crushed to judge that documents shared with the defendant’s parents successful peculiar incorporate grounds applicable to the charged offenses.”

Bankman-Fried faces 7 charges, including respective counts of ligament fraud and conspiracy to securities and commodities fraud.