By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
SDNY MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, Jan 5 - In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on January 5, a detention or bond proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn on Neil Phillips, charged with commodities fraud for manipulating the exchange rate of the South African rand and US dollar.
Inner City Press was the only media in the Mag Court, and has filed to unseal the names of the bond co-signers of Samuel Bankman-Fried in SDNY. Related Mag Court live-tweeted thread (more on Patreon here) vlog here
The US Attorney's Office had agreed to a bond package with Phillips, as it had with Bankman-Fried. In Phillips' case it is a $15 million bond with three publicly named co-signers, two of whom are putting up $250,000 cash.
By contrast, Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to keep his two co-signers secret - the US Attorney's Office "takes no position" - and there is no cash put up.
The US Attorney's Office is allowing Phillips to fly back to the UK, and leave his UK passport there with Pallas Partners law firm. The co-signers are: Alan Jacobson, Anthony Robertson and Beverly Lynn Jacobson.
The case was re-assigned to Judge Lewis J. Liman who on September 1, 2023 issued an order denying Phillip's motion to dismiss - without prejudice to a Rule 29 motion. On Phillips' Constitutional challenge (lack of fair warning), Judge Liman ruled that can only be assessed with "full factual development at trial."
This case is US v. Phillips, 22-cr-138 (Liman)
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