Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial is one of the biggest cases of white-collar securities fraud in Manhattan, with billions of dollars having gone astray from the defunct cryptocurrency platform FTX, causing significant financial distress to former users (and employees).
In the latest development, the lawyers representing the disgraced founder objected to the four million pages of discovery notes provided by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), claiming that the move is “fundamentally unfair and should not be permitted.”
4 Million Pages of Evidence Against SBF
In a letter addressed to Judge Lewis Kaplan, SBF’s legal representatives contended that the government’s strategy was clearly insufficient. They further added that the move violated the FTX founder’s Sixth Amendment to participate in preparing his defense and his right to receive effective assistance of counsel.
While objecting to the four million additional pages of discovery that the government introduced last week, SBF’s lawyers argued,
“We further object to the Government’s production, just yesterday, of an additional 4 million pages of discovery. The Government cannot be allowed to dump millions of pages on the defense less than six weeks before trial, especially when the Government has no plans whatsoever to produce the documents to Mr. Bankman-Fried in the MDC for his review.”
Furthermore, the legal team contended that even if SBF were released on bail and had an unrestricted amount of time to examine these documents, it would probably remain unfeasible for him to complete the review before the trial date, scheduled for October 3rd.
As such, the court filing is seeking a temporary release to address “these problems and safeguard” SBF’s right to participate in his own defense.
SBF’s Defence Strategy
Crypto analyst Adam Cochran said that the four million pages in question can help “unearth every shady dealing around” since these encompass chats, accounts, paperwork, money flow as well and co-conspirator testimony. He also speculated that SBF’s lawyers “have got to be counseling a plea deal here.”
The former FTX CEO had been free on a $250 million bond for approximately eight months after his extradition from the Bahamas and his initial court appearance in the United States in December 2022. Nonetheless, after accusations of witness intimidation involving former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison emerged, a federal judge revoked his bail.
So far, SBF denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His legal representatives, on the other hand, have been advocating for improved treatment for him after his incarceration on August 11th.
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