• Former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), has asked a court for access to crypto assets held by the exchange.
• SBF was charged with wire fraud and money laundering and was released on bail with the condition of giving up access to any cryptocurrencies held by FTX and Alameda Research.
• Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s attorney, wrote a letter to the court on January 28 arguing that the bail condition should be lifted since the only basis presented for securing that condition has not been proved.
On January 28, 2023, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, asked a court for access to crypto assets held by the exchange. Bankman-Fried had resigned as CEO of FTX on November 11th, 2022, and was subsequently charged with wire fraud and money laundering. After being released on bail, he was required to give up access to any cryptocurrencies held by FTX and its trading arm, Alameda Research.
Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s attorney, wrote a letter to the court on January 28 arguing that the bail condition should be lifted. Cohen argued that the defense team assumed that the Government’s investigation had confirmed what SBF has said all along – that he did not access and transfer the assets – in light of the three weeks that have passed since the initial pretrial conference. However, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a document on January 27, suggesting that further investigation was still required in order to determine the source of the funds and how they were used.
In the letter, Cohen also noted that Bankman-Fried had been denied access to his own cryptocurrency holdings and that, since the investigation had not confirmed any wrongdoing, the bail conditions should be lifted. Cohen argued that denying Bankman-Fried access to the crypto assets was unfair, given he had been released on bail and was not in custody.
The court has yet to rule on Bankman-Fried’s request. It remains to be seen whether Bankman-Fried will be granted access to the crypto assets held by FTX. In the meantime, the investigation into the fraud case continues.