SBF Lawyers Appeal to Block Release of Bail Guarantors
- Lawyers representing SBF have appealed to block the names of the two guarantors who signed off as guarantors on $250M bail bond.
- The identities will remain undisclosed until at least Feb. 14 in order to allow for an application for a further stay.
- The Associated Press, CNBC, Dow Jones, Insider, and the Washington Post, filed a petition to make the guarantor’s name public.
- Media outlets said that “the public’s right to know Bankman-Fried’s guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights.”
The lawyers representing the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF in the crypto space, have appealed with the court to block the names of the two guarantors who signed off as guarantors on Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail bond, which allows him to stay at his parent’s home in Palo Alto.
Multiple media outlets recently filed a motion to reveal the two guarantors of SBF’s $250 million bail bond, but it seems that the court has yet to decide whether to move forward with the decision or not. Interestingly, the identity of these guarantors will remain secret for now; Bankman Fried’s lawyers filed an appeal to block the release of the guarantors’ names last-minute on Feb. 7.
While the appeal did not contain the details or arguments as to why the names of the two guarantors should not be made public, it can be confirmed that the identities will remain undisclosed until at least Feb. 14 in order to allow for an application for a further stay. The appeal was expected to arrive from SBF lawyers after United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted a petition from several media outlets to reveal the identity of the guarantors.
In a Jan. 12 letter, the lawyers from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, representing the Associated Press, CNBC, Dow Jones, Insider, and the Washington Post, argued that “the public’s right to know Bankman-Fried’s guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights.”
On the other hand, the lawyers representing SBF stated that if the names were made public, their lives might come under threat. Kaplan noted that he had “no reason” to doubt threats had occurred but was yet to see “evidence to that effect.”
Along with the two unknown guarantors, SBF’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, also signed the bail bond and put up their house to guarantee the FTX founder’s bail. Interestingly, when the crypto entrepreneur was arrested in the Bahamas, he wasn’t granted bail until he was extradited to the US and pleaded not guilty to all the charges imposed on him by the US authorities.
It is also crucial to note that on Feb. 7, Kaplan also rejected the joint petition between Bankman-Fried’s legal team and prosecutors that would allow SBF to have access to certain messaging applications. While the US District Judge did not give a reason for doing so, he stated that more will be discussed on the same in a Feb. 9 court hearing.
It is also a fact that FTX management has sent a message to all the politicians and political groups to return the donations that were made by the company’s former executives. Interestingly, SBF was the second-largest “CEO contributor” to President Joe Biden’s campaign and donated close to $5.2 million. Additionally, Bankman-Fried’s holding company, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, has also filed for bankruptcy and currently owns over 55 million Robinhood shares, which are worth close to $600 million.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
