Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX, has been denied access to documents from law firm Fenwick & West LLP as part of his defense strategy in an ongoing federal fraud case, according to Bloomberg. Bankman-Fried sought the documents to support his claim that he relied on legal advice in the activities for which he now faces prosecution.
Bankman-Fried's legal team approached the judge overseeing the case, requesting the prosecution to provide the Fenwick documents or allow them to be obtained through a subpoena. However, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected the request, deeming it an unjustified "fishing expedition."
Bankman-Fried's defense planned to argue that he had relied on advice from Fenwick & West LLP to counter the prosecutors' allegations of intentional lawbreaking. The law firm's discussions reportedly covered various topics, including the use of encrypted messaging app s, multimillion-dollar loans to FTX executives, and compliance with US banking regulations, which Bankman-Fried's lawyers believed were relevant to the accusations against their client.
Bankman-Fried is facing two criminal trials for allegedly orchestrating a complex fraudulent scheme involving the misappropriation of billions of dollars in FTX client funds. The funds were allegedly used for high-risk investments, personal expenses, and even political ical donations.
On a separate note, FTX filed a lawsuit in Delaware Bankruptcy Court on June 22, seeking to recover over $700 million from investment companies associated with the firm. The lawsuit targets K5 Global, Mount Olympus Capital, SGN Albany Capital, and their affiliated entities, as well as K5 co-owners Michael Kives and Bryan Baum. FTX alleges that funds were transferred from its affiliate Alameda Research to these entities through shell companies and aims to reclaim the funds as an avoidable transaction.
