Bankman-Fried's lawyers once again deny any wrongdoing from their client.
The legal team representing Sam Bankman-Fried (known as SBF) has recently issued a response to the allegations that the former FTX CEO tried to manipulate witnesses in the upcoming trial.
In a letter dated August 1st, SBF's lawyers addressed Judge Lewis Kaplan, contending that the prosecution's efforts to revoke his bail and detain him ahead of the trial were unjustified. They stated that the reasons were "extremely thin" and built more on assumptions and vague hints rather than solid evidence.
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They further clarified that Bankman-Fried's contact with a New York Times reporter was in no way an attempt to influence or threaten former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, who is expected to testify against SBF in the criminal trial set for October.
Instead, his lawyers presented his dialogue with the reporter as a "proper exercise of his rights" to comment on a story already underway.
On July 28th, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) attempted to revoke Bankman-Fried's bail, alleging that his move to share Ellison's diary with The New York Times was a ploy to harass and intimidate her.
However, SBF's lawyers have countered this claim, suggesting instead that it could be the government that leaked Ellison's diary to the media. The lawyers argued that the circumstances made it implausible for the government to be uninvolved in the article's publishing.
The language of the story itself, which discusses when the Government will begin preparing its trial witnesses and describes documents that were not provided to the reporter by Mr. Bankman-Fried, strongly indicates it was a source.
As the trial date approaches, all eyes will be on this case as SBF's lawyers' denial of the allegations and the insistence on their client's innocence adds another layer to an already complex and closely-watched legal battle.
