By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Substack
SDNY COURTROOM, June 20 - 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.
Jump-cut to October 18, 2023: Morgan Stanley's head of FX for the Americas back on that fateful Christmas night was on the stand, calling MS' barrier proprietary. Had he ever met Phillips, at Glenpoint Capital? He said he had...
On October 19 while an expert witness told the jury about delta, letters flew about a chat and audio of Rahul Kamath, with Phillips trying to keep it out. His legal team points to a phrase from the 3500 material, "Ha[ve] not been able to figure out way for Nomura New York employee to authenticate audio without running into privilege issue."
On October 21, Saturday, the prosecutors filed a 7 page letter seeking to limit and blunt the Friday testimony of Andrew Newman, arguing that "Mr. Newman’s testimony on Friday exceeded the scope of his expert disclosure, as well as the scope represented by the defense in their opposition to the Government’s motion in limine, by directly opining on Phillip’s purpose on December 26, 2017. For example, early in Mr. Newman’s testimony, counsel asked Newman, “[B]ased on that analysis what, if any, opinions did you form about trades on December 26, 2017?” and Newman responded, “Yes. So Glen Point’s trading on that was part of a delta replacement strategy for the anticipation of the expiration of the 12.50 onetouch option expiring on January 2."
On October 23, the prosecution cross examined Newman about his charts and the Archbishop's midnight mass speech....
On October 25, the jury found him guilty of commodities fraud - but not guilty of conspiracy...
On November 2, the US agreed to, and Judge Liman approved, the raising of Phillips bond from $15 million to $20 million....
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 tried to keep his two co-signers secret. Inner City Press first opposed, and they were unsealed. Now defendant Paduch is trying to do the same thing.
On December 23, Judge Liman denied Phillips' bid to travel to South Africa: "ORDER denying [98] LETTER MOTION of Neil Phillips re: request for leave to travel. The motion for a modification of the conditions of release to permit Mr. Phillips to travel to South Africa is denied. Mr. Phillips has not made a sufficient showing that the modification would not create a risk of flight. (Signed by Judge Lewis J. Liman on 12/23/2023)."
On March 27, after a lengthy oral argument that Inner City Press attended, Judge Liman denied Phillips' motions: "OPINION AND ORDER as to Neil Phillips re: [94] MOTION for Acquittal or, in the Alternative, for a New Trial filed by Neil Phillips. For the foregoing reasons, Phillips's motion for a judgment of acquittal or, in the alternative, a new trial, Dkt. No. 94, is DENIED. The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to close Dkt. No. 94. (Signed by Judge Lewis J. Liman on 3/27/24)." It's 62 pages, here - expect it in the Second Circuit.
On May 30, Judge Liman pushed back sentencing.
Then, on June 20: "ORDER as to Neil Phillips: Sentencing in this case is scheduled for Tuesday, June 25, 2024. The Court hereby gives notice that (as foreshadowed in the prior conference and in the submissions of both parties) the Court is considering granting a downward variance from the Guidelines in this case. The Court is further considering imposing a fine in this case. The parties should be prepared to address both issues. Finally, with respect to the terms of supervised release which the Court currently intends to impose, the Court intends to impose a special condition that notwithstanding the standard condition that the defendant be supervised by the district of residence.... The parties are directed to meet and confer in advance of sentencing to discuss the residences in which Mr. Phillips should be permitted to reside during his period of supervised release. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Lewis J. Liman on 6/20/2024) (lnl)."
More - analysis - on Substack here
This case is US v. Phillips, 22-cr-138 (Liman)
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