Sam Bankman-Fried denies he tried to sway witness, awaits possible contact restrictions

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has denied trying to influence potential witnesses. Requested restrictions on communications. January 27 Court Submissions.

SBF tried to contact FTX US General Counsel

Damien Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused Bankman-Fried of contacting witnesses on Jan. 15 via Signals on an encrypted messaging app.

According to Williams, the recipient of the message was FTX US legal counsel. The recipient’s name is not specified, but the person in question is likely Line Miller, who has held that position since 2021.

In a January 15 message to Miller, Bankman-Fried wrote:

“I’d love to see if there’s a way to reconnect and have a constructive relationship, use each other as a resource if possible, or at least vette things with each other.”

Williams pointed out that Miller has information that could incriminate Bankman-Fried. For example, Miller when the company went bankrupt he attended FTX, Signal and he joined online corporate groups on apps like Slack. Bankman-Fried allegedly instructed employees to move funds and disclosed details of his actions.

Williams asked the court to impose two limits. First, he said Bankman-Fried should be barred from communicating with individuals he is employed by (or was employed by) FTX and Alameda Research unless exempted. Williams then said Bankman-Fried should be prevented from using encrypted, self-deleting communication apps such as Signal.

In the filing, Williams noted Bankman-Fried contacted other FTX associates via Signals and said the former executive had a “history of using the application for sabotage purposes.” I was. Additionally, Williams said the signal’s auto-delete feature had already hampered the investigation, and Bankman-Fried previously admitted that he had set messages to be deleted within 30 days. rice field.

The proposed restrictions do not prevent Bankman-Fried from communicating with others through standard channels such as phone, text and email.

Bankman-Fried Denies Allegations

Bankman-Fried has since denied trying to influence Miller, and his legal representatives say the charges paint him in the “worst light”.

in the filing of the date January 28thBankman-Fried’s legal team said his attempts to contact Miller were an attempt to help FTX in its bankruptcy case. That case is ongoing separately from the Bankman-Fried criminal case.

The team offered an alternative limit. Bankman-Fried should completely block communication with certain individuals, but allow accessible communication with certain others, regardless of the messaging app of choice.

The legal team added that Bankman-Fried did not enable Signal’s auto-delete feature for the related messages and that copies of the messages were emailed to them. Furthermore, Miller also noted that he did not respond to messages.

Bankman-Fried’s legal team also questioned the timing of the government’s request, suggesting that its filing late Friday was intended to prevent a response from Bankman-Fried’s representatives. increase. However, the team also acknowledged that Bankman-Fried had previously interacted with his successor FTX CEO, John Ray III, and objected to those interactions.

Judge Louis Kaplan still decide Whether to impose the requested limit. However, Kaplan noted that neither side provided relevant messages to the court, and said the government had until January 30 to submit those messages.