Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to a “gag order” that prevents him from speaking to third parties who could interfere in his trial – but says that should also apply to all potential witnesses, including current FTX CEO John Ray.
A gag order against Sam Bankman-Fried was originally sought on July 20, when the US government accused the FTX founder of attempting to interfere with due process. publicly discredits a former business partner and witnessed by Caroline Ellison in an interview with the New York Times.
On July 22 letter United States District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of New York, attorneys Bankman-Fried Cohen & Gresser LLP dismissed the charges but agreed to accept the gag order as requested.
A gag order is a legal order often issued by a court to restrict information or comments from being published or passed on to any unauthorized third party. In this case, Bankman-Fried will no longer be allowed to make comments that publicly discredit a government witness by sharing confidential information that may taint the jury pool.
But in accepting the relief, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers also want the same gag order to be applied to all parties and witnesses who might be involved in his criminal trial.
“We respectfully request that any such relief be extended not only to Mr. Bankman-Fried, but equally to all ‘parties and witnesses’ — namely, the government and all potential witnesses in this case.”
This would include the US government, former employees of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, entities of the FTX debtor, Alameda Research and other potential witnesses involved in the case, according to the lawyers.
Explaining the request, the lawyers said there had been a “toxic media environment” surrounding their client since then. stock market collapsewith FTX CEO John Ray being one of the bigger culprits.
“Most notably, the current CEO of the FTX Debtor companies, John J. Ray III, has routinely (and unreasonably) attacked and defamed Mr. Bankman-Fried in his public comments and filings in the FTX bankruptcy proceedings,” they said.
“Mr. Ray’s repeated ad hominem attacks on Mr. Bankman-Fried – which have very little to do with his role in recovering assets for FTX’s lenders and seem more focused on publicly vilifying Mr. Bankman-Fried. [This] Mr. Bankman-Fried was left with no choice but to respond,” the lawyers added.
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The law firm argued that the US government was applying a double standard by touting several articles that sought to damage the SBF’s reputation. This formed the basis of their request for the same gag order for SBF.
SBF pleaded not guilty to a number of fraud charges for the alleged role played by the head of bankruptcy of FTX. The SBF fraud trial begins on October 3.
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