FTX’s SBF Requests Jail Leave to Prepare Defense

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) wants to be able to leave jail during weekdays to work on his defense with his lawyers, according to court filings.

In a letter dated July 18, legal representatives for SBF detailed the challenges their client faced in reviewing the extensive case documents while detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

SBF Lawyers Ask for Weekday Leave

The lawyers asked permission to allow SBF to spend weekdays at the federal courthouse in Manhattan, where he would collaborate with his legal team on his defense.

The letter also asked that SBF be granted permission to use an internet-enabled computer at the courthouse. It claimed that this was necessary for him to fully prepare his defense in time for his trial, which would start in October.

The lawyers urged the court to grant their request because they “no longer have the luxury of time given the extraordinary voluminous discovery and trial proximity.”

SBF lawyers had previously complained about his jail’s facility, citing its lack of internet facilities, among other reasons. However, the prosecutors have offered to put all the documents on hard drives for him to review while locked up in the MDC.

There were also suggestions of transferring him to another detention facility upstate with internet services, but prison officials disagreed.

This request emerged less than a week after his bail was revoked for witness tampering.

Prosecutors Want SBF to Provide Documents on Planned Defense

Simultaneously, the prosecution team complained to the judge, highlighting SBF’s delay in furnishing the documents pertinent to his intended defense. The former FTX CEO had asserted that legal counsel guided his actions and intends to rely on this defense strategy.

Federal prosecutors have requested that he disclose the source of advice to grant the defense. Failure to do this, the prosecutor wrote:

“The Government moves to preclude the defendant from introducing a purported advice-of-counsel defense at trial given his failure to provide this necessary information.”

SBF will face a trial for fraud and related charges in October. He faces another criminal trial by March next year. The disgraced founder had pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.