Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have urged the district court hearing his case to grant temporary release of the former FTX CEO from the jail so that he can review the documents before his trial begins. They have asked the court to at least allow him to meet his legal team at least five times a week. Currently, Bankman-Fried is able to meet his legal team in a room at the courthouse two days a week, media reports said.
His lawyers informed the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, that the laptop Bankman-Fried was given suffered power and internet problems. The laptop had a limited battery life and there was no charging outlet in the room they met. The internet signal was also weak.
“In order to meaningfully prepare his defense, Mr. Bankman-Fried needs constant access to an internet-enabled computer that allows him to review documents from discovery, look up relevant context for the evidence online, draft and edit work product analyzing the documents and data, and share these documents and analyses with his attorneys,” his lawyers said in a letter on August 25.
Before his bail was revoked and he was placed in the jail, Bankman-Fried was able to spend 80-100 hours a week preparing his defense. Early this month, he was sent to jail after prosecutors accused him of trying to influence witnesses. In particular, he was accused of leaking the contents of Caroline Ellison’s private diary to the New York Times. Caroline Ellison was the CEO of Alameda Research, the trading platform owned by FTX, before it collapsed along with FTX in November 2022.
