The criminal trial set for October for Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed crypto exchange FTX, may need to be delayed to gather and review evidence, his lawyers said in a letter to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Wednesday.
The lawyers claim that federal prosecutors have not yet given them a substantial portion of the evidence, including, among other things, evidence from the electronic devices of Caroline Ellison, the former chief executive of FTX sister company Alameda Research, and Zixiao “Gary” Wang, co-founder of FTX.
Ellison pleaded guilty in December to seven offenses including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Wang also pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and three conspiracy counts, which involved wire, securities, and commodities fraud. Meanwhile Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges which include money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud.
The statement from the lawyers also mentions that new fraud charges were added last month in connection with the purchase and sale of derivatives, securities
fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to operate an
unlicensed money transmitting business.
“The defense also notes that, depending on the volume of the additional discovery and the timing of the productions, it may be necessary to request an adjournment of the trial, currently scheduled to begin on October 2, 2023,” the letter states. “While we are not making such an application at this time, we wanted to note this issue for the Court now in case we need to revisit this issue after receiving the additional discovery.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment. One of Bankman-Fried’s attorneys, Mark Cohen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sam Bankman-Fried led one of the world’s most successful crypto exchanges in the world with FTX prior to it filing for bankruptcy in November 2022. Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, Calif on a $250 million bail bond. The trial schedule and Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions are scheduled to be discussed at a court hearing on Friday.
