The US Attorney's Office has filed a response opposing the bail appeal made by former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried. They contend that Bankman-Fried poses a risk of tampering with witnesses, and no release conditions can guarantee their safety. In this In response, prosecutors have labeled several of his claims in his appeal against bail revocation as "baseless."
Prosecutors argued that SBF violated court orders twice by attempting to tamper with witnesses. Therefore, given his history of non-compliance with pretrial release conditions, they believe he is unlikely to adhere to any release conditions.
The first instance occurred in early January when SBF initiated contact with FTX.US's then-general counsel, a potential trial witness. The second incident took place in July 2023 when private diary messages from former Alameda CEO and SBF partner Caroline Ellison were leaked. Prosecutors argued that SBF leaked these messages to discredit her and potentially influence the jury. Based on these actions, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked SBF's bail on August 11, 2023.
SBF's legal team appealed this bail revocation on August 28, asserting that his communication with Ellison was protected by the First Amendment. Prosecutors countered that Judge Kaplan had already considered SBF's First Amendment rights when making his decision, emphasizing that the law deems communication a crime if it is intended to intimidate or influence a witness, regardless of First Amendment protections.
In their response, prosecutors made two central arguments: firstly, that the district court had valid reasons to believe that SBF attempted to tamper with a witness while on pretrial release, and secondly, that Judge Kaplan's finding of probable cause regarding SBF's attempt to tamper with Witness 1 was not manifestly erroneous. They also pointed out that the defendants did not challenge SBF's ruling that he attempted to testify for the former FTX.US lawyer, which the judge interpreted as a clear attempt to tamper with the witness.
