Bankman-Fried Seeks Access To FTX Assets After Prosecutors Suggest New Bail Condition

As U.S. prosecutors close in into the assets of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of the now-bankrupt crypto empire FTX, his lawyers have requested the court to grant him access to his assets in FTX.

The legal team of Bankman-Fried, in a letter, addressed to Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York, requested to remove a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX funds, a court filing dated Jan. 28 showed.

"The defense objects to the nature and tone of the Government's submission," the letter read, noting that the proposed new bail conditions are "an apparent effort to portray our client [SBF] in the worst possible light." It added that the prosecutors' letter "makes it appear as if it were prompted by exigent circumstances that required it to file on a Friday night and seek these new bail conditions."

During the first court hearing on Jan. 3, U.S. prosecutors proposed that Bankman-Fried should be prohibited from accessing or transferring any FTX or Alameda assets or cryptocurrency, including assets or cryptocurrency purchased with funds from FTX or Alameda." They, however, admitted there was no evidence that the embattled FTX founder transferred funds but mentioned that a federal investigation is well underway.

Bankman-Fried lawyers told the judge that the government may have confirmed after three weeks since the pretrial conference that their client did not access and transfer the assets and requested the court to remove the new bail condition, considering that prosecutors could not present any evidence to back it up.

"Nearly three weeks have passed since the initial pretrial conference and we assume that the Government's investigation has confirmed what Mr. Bankman-Fried has said all along; namely, that he did not access and transfer these assets. Given that the sole basis advanced for seeking that condition has not been supported, we believe that the bail condition imposed at the conference should be removed," the court filing read.

This month, U.S. prosecutors seized $700 million worth of assets from Bankman-Fried, mainly in the form of Robinhood stocks.

The embattled FTX founder faces multiple charges including wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, campaign finance violations and defrauding investors for $1.8 billion.

Currently, out on bail, Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and is looking at up to 115 years prison sentence if found guilty.

His next trial is set for October of this year.