By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell book
SDNY COURTHOUSE, March 30 – Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, leading to his arrest in the Bahamas on December 12, and extradition to the US on December 21.
On February 28, with Bankman-Fried free on bond, FTX's Nishad Singh pleaded guilty to six criminal charges. Inner City Press put the charging document on its DocumentCloud here.
On March 10, Judge Kaplan held a proceeding. Inner City Press was there and live tweeted, thread here.
On March 27, Bankman-Fried's lawyers filed a sealed version of conditions it said DOJ agreed to - adding that "the Government does not object to the sealing request." Full letter on Patreon here.
On March 28, another superseding indictment but continued kid gloves on detention. The US wrote: "On March 27, 2023, the grand jury returned a thirteen-count superseding indictment [with] an additional count for conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."
From the complaint, Paragraph 103: SFB "and others known and unknown, at least one of whom was first brought to and will be arrested in the SDNY..." Paragraph 105: SBF "directed and caused the transfer of at least $40 million in cryptocurrency intended for the benefit of one or more Chinese government officials in order to influence and induce them to unfreeze the Accounts."
On March 30, pleading not guilty, Bankman-Fried's lawyer told Judge Kaplan that SBF "is not acknowledging he can be tried on the new counts after the extradition." SBF flack Mark Botnick said the defense "will be challenging the new charges when motions are filed."
From the docket: "Arraignment as to Samuel Bankman-Fried held on 3/30/2023. Defendant arraigned on both the (S3) and (S5) indictments, the defendants entered pleas of Not Guilty to both the (S3) and (S5) indictments. Discovery status given by the Government. The Court ruled that the current bail order applies to the (S5) indictment. The motion schedule was modified so that Defendant's motions are due 5/8/2023; Government opposition due 5/29/2023; Defense replies due 6/12/2023; oral argument or a PTC is scheduled for 6/15/2023 @ 3:30 PM. Time is excluded from today through and including 10/2/2023 on all indictments in the interests of justice. Defendant remained released on bail."
SBF remains released on bail - why?
The inexplicable double standards continue.
More with analysis on Substack here
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