SBF’s Lawyers Want Him Out on Bail in The Bahamas

Sam Bankman-Fried has been denied bail in the Bahamas and will remain in custody until February 8, 2021. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had filed a request for bail on December 13, but Judge JoyAnn Ferguson-Pratt has said that the FTX founder needed to remain in custody because of a “risk of flight.”

Sam Bankman-Fried denied bail

The counsel representing Bankman-Fried had requested a $250,000 bail on December 13. The counsel argued that the former FTX CEO suffered from insomnia and depression and had not taken his medication, including anti-depressants and Adderall, since he was arrested.

The lawyers also said that Bankman-Fried did not have a criminal record and that he had not fled the Bahamas despite having an opportunity to do so. They also said that Bankman-Fried was willing to have electronic monitoring or report regularly to a police station if his request for bail was granted.

Judge Fergusson-Pratt had earlier said that Bankman-Fried had a right to a bail hearing. However, she has turned down the request and ordered that the FTX founder remains in custody with the Bahamas Department of Corrections until February 8, 2023. The case facing the crypto executive will next be heard on this date.

FTX UPDATE: SBF leaves Magistrate’s court. He will be remanded to The Bahamas Department of Corrections until his matter resumes on Feb 8, 2023. pic.twitter.com/dqXsHeNXSK

— Eyewitness News Bahamas (@ewnewsbahamas) December 13, 2022

The Bahamas Police Force arrested Bankman-Fried on December 12. His arrest came after the US government said it had opened criminal charges against him. The crypto executive is currently facing eight counts of financial and securities fraud.

Since his arrest, US regulatory bodies have opened multiple charges against Bankman-Fried. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have all filed charges against Bankman-Fried.

FTX CEO testifies before US Congress

Before his arrest, Bankman-Fried was slated to testify before the US Congress on the events that led to FTX’s collapse, but this never happened. However, the current CEO of FTX overseeing the exchange’s bankruptcy, John J. Ray III, appeared before Congress to shed light on the situation.

In his testimony, Ray said that the collapse of FTX was caused by a small group of inexperienced people who did not implement controls needed for a company that handled client money and assets.

He noted that after assessing the situation, he made an outright decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and he was taking steps to regain control of the situation. Ray was also questioned on why he had said that FTX was worse than Enron, to which he said that the exchange did not have any record keeping.

“Nothing against Quickbooks, very nice tool, just not for a multi-billion dollar company. There’s no independent board. We had one person really controlling this,” Ray added.

Ray further said that there was no doubt that customer funds on FTX were transferred to Alameda, a crypto hedge fund co-founded by Bankman-Fried. He also admitted that Bankman-Fried’s family also received payments from FTX. Earlier reports have alleged that Bankman-Fried’s family invested in multiple real estate properties within the Bahamas.

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