By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
SDNY COURTROOM, Oct 18 - 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... The trial continues.
Back in January, 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 tried to keep his two co-signers secret. Inner City Press first opposed.
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."
On September 25 the SDNY prosecutors wrote it to say they are dropping counts 3 and 4, wire fraud, "to avoid protracted Rule 29 litigation," and will only proceed on 1 and 2, commodities fraud.
Once the trial began, 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... The trial continues.
This case is US v. Phillips, 22-cr-138 (Liman)
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