Federal prosecutors have cast doubt on a recent court filing purportedly sent from prison by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, telling a judge that a March 16 letter submitted in his name may not have been sent from prison but instead shipped via FedEx from the San Francisco Bay Area.
The letter asked for a one-month extension to April 16 to respond to a government brief. It cited an expected transfer from FCI Terminal Island and warned he could spend weeks without access to legal materials, counsel or the courts while in transit through Bureau of Prisons facilities.
“I think we have a really serious problem with prosecution being used for political ambition,” Fried said, adding that she believed the Biden administration had tried to “destroy crypto.”
Bankman rejected comparisons between his son and Bernie Madoff, saying that “Sam built billion dollar businesses in a new field and was a pioneer for doing so.”
They also challenged the core allegations, portraying FTX’s failure as a liquidity crisis rather than fraud. Fried said “all of the money was turned over” and argued customers were ultimately repaid with interest, while Bankman said transfers to Alameda Research reflected borrowing within the platform.
Kaplan also said court staff had received a voicemail from someone identifying herself as Fried, adding that the court does not accept telephone calls from litigants or their family members. While declining her request, the judge extended the deadline on his own to March 23, allowing Bankman-Fried’s attorneys to seek relief properly if needed.
The collapse of FTXWhether customers were “made whole” has become central to Bankman-Fried’s post-conviction arguments. While the bankruptcy estate has recovered enough to repay many claims based on 2022 valuations, critics say that understates losses because crypto prices later rebounded sharply, meaning customers would have held far more valuable assets had their funds not been frozen.
