SBF denies witness tampering in effort to keep away from jail

Legal professionals for Sam Bankman-Fried have denied that he tried to intimidate witnesses in his prison trial by speaking to New York Occasions reporters and argued there is no such thing as a motive to jail him.

In an Aug. 1 letter to Decide Lewis Kaplan, Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals claimed the prosecution’s try and revoke his bail and have him detained are “extraordinarily skinny” and closely depend on assumptions and innuendo.

They added Bankman-Fried’s contact with a New York Occasions reporter was not an try and intimidate former Alameda Analysis CEO Caroline Ellison or taint the jury pool and it was not sufficient to justify his detainment forward of the trial. 

Bankman-Fried’s contact with reporters was a “correct train of his rights to make truthful touch upon an article already in progress, for which the reporter already had alternate sources,” the legal professionals argued.

On July 28, the USA Division of Justice (DOJ) sought to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail alleging his transfer to share Ellison’s diary with The New York Occasions was an try and harass and intimidate her. Ellison is predicted to testify towards SBF in his prison trial which is scheduled to happen in October this yr. 

Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals as an alternative prompt that it was the federal government who shared Ellison’s diary with the New York Occasions saying it was implausible the federal government had nothing to do with the article.

“The language of the story itself, which discusses when the Authorities will start getting ready its trial witnesses and describes paperwork that weren’t offered to the reporter by Mr. Bankman-Fried, strongly signifies it was a supply,” the legal professionals mentioned.

It is a growing story, and additional info can be added because it turns into obtainable.