Prosecutors in the case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the fallen FTX, believe that the terms of his bail need an adjustment. In a letter to the judge on duty, the prosecutors write that they do not think it is a good idea for Bankman-Fried to communicate with current and former employees of FTX and Alameda Research.
Influencing the lawsuit
The Justice Department’s request comes after Bankman-Fried tried to reach someone within FTX that could influence his own sentence. Bankman-Fried naturally hopes to reduce his sentence in all kinds of ways. If everything goes according to plan, there is a very small chance that he will ever be released after his conviction.
“I would like to get in touch with you and see if there is any way we can build a constructive relationship between us,” prosecutors quoted Bankman-Fried as saying to FTX’s Ryne Miller.
The prosecutors also request that Bankman-Fried be denied access to chat applications such as Telegram and Signal. They are clearly afraid that by doing so he will influence his own case and possibly try to bribe people to hide certain things.
Who is Ryan Miller?
Ryne Miller currently serves as the Chief Legal Officer of FTX. He was actively involved in the company in November 2022 and has learned a lot from Bankman-Fried’s actions. This includes the decision to liquidate a large amount of Alameda Research’s assets during that period so that the company could honor client withdrawals.
This would concern withdrawals from customers of FTX US, the American branch of the exchange platform, which is liquid according to Bankman-Fried. If this turns out to be true, then those claims of the former CEO and founder of FTX would also be wrong. If they had to liquidate assets in order to pay back customers, then of course it is not a healthy company.