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

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has denied that he tried to affect a possible witness. Beforehand, authorities officers prompt that Bankman-Fried tried to take action and requested restrictions on his communications in a Jan. 27 court docket submitting.

SBF tried to contact FTX US Common Counsel

Damian Williams, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York, accused Bankman-Fried of contacting a witness on Jan. 15 by way of the encrypted messaging app Sign.

Williams stated that the message’s recipient was the Common Counsel for FTX US.  Although the recipient shouldn’t be explicitly named, the person in query is presumably Ryne Miller, who has held that place since 2021. Williams famous that Miller could also be a witness at trial and stated that Bankman-Fried tried to affect Miller’s testimony.

In his Jan. 15 message to Miller, Bankman-Fried wrote:

“I’d actually like to reconnect and see if there’s a approach for us to have a constructive relationship, use one another as assets when potential, or a minimum of vet issues with one another.”

Williams famous that Miller has info that might incriminate Bankman-Fried. For instance, Miller was current at FTX on the time of the corporate’s collapse and took part in on-line firm teams on apps corresponding to Sign and Slack. There, Bankman-Fried allegedly instructed staff to maneuver funds and disclosed particulars of his actions.

Williams requested the court docket to impose two restrictions. First, he stated that Bankman-Fried needs to be prevented from speaking with people who’re (or had been) employed by FTX and Alameda Analysis except exempted. Second, Williams famous that Bankman-Fried needs to be prevented from utilizing encrypted and self-deleting communication apps, together with Sign.

Within the submitting, Williams famous that Bankman-Fried contacted different FTX associates over Sign and stated that the previous government has a “historical past of utilizing the applying for obstructive functions.” As well as, Williams said that Sign’s autodeletion characteristic has already obstructed investigations and stated Bankman-Fried has beforehand admitted to setting messages to delete inside 30 days or much less.

The proposed restrictions won’t stop Bankman-Fried from speaking with others over customary channels corresponding to telephone, textual content, and e mail.

Bankman-Fried denies allegations

Bankman-Fried has since denied that he tried to affect Miller, and his authorized illustration has stated that the accusations paint him within the “worst potential gentle.”

In a submitting dated Jan. 28, Bankman-Fried’s authorized workforce stated that his makes an attempt to contact Miller had been an try to supply help in FTX’s chapter case. That case is continuing individually from Bankman-Fried’s legal case.

The workforce offered another restriction: Bankman-Fried needs to be fully blocked from speaking with particular people however needs to be allowed accessible communication with sure others whatever the chosen messaging app.

The authorized workforce added that Bankman-Fried didn’t have Sign’s auto-deletion characteristic enabled for the related message and stated a duplicate of the message was despatched by e mail. It additional famous that Miller didn’t reply to the message.

Bankman-Fried’s authorized workforce additionally questioned the timing of the federal government’s request, suggesting that the late Friday submitting was meant to stop a response from Bankman-Fried’s illustration. Nonetheless, the workforce additionally acknowledged Bankman-Fried’s earlier communications with FTX’s alternative CEO, John Ray III, and objections to these communications.

Choose Lewis Kaplan has but to determine whether or not to impose the requested restrictions. Nonetheless, Kaplan famous neither facet supplied the related messages to the court docket and stated the federal government ought to file these messages by Jan. 30.