Bankman-Fried appeals judge’s decision to reveal bond co-signers 

Sam Bankman-Fried is fighting to keep the names of the two people who co-signed his bond a secret. 

The former FTX CEO appealed a judge’s decision to unseal the names of the two co-signers in a court filing on Tuesday. Bankman-Fried, under house arrest on a $250 million bond, is facing criminal charges for his alleged mishandling of FTX customer funds. 

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted a motion to unseal the names of the co-signers last month, after a group of media outlets asked the court to make the names public. Bankman-Fried’s lawyer had argued that the co-signers could face privacy and security issues if their names are revealed.  

Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, co-signed his $250 million bond in December. A pair of additional signers, one of whom was required not to be a family member, signed lesser bonds for $500,000 and $200,000.

The motion to unseal the names was stayed until Tuesday in case of an appeal, and will now be stayed until Feb. 14. 

The former billionaire is due in court on Thursday for a separate issue in his criminal case. Prosecutors have asked to modify Bankman-Fried’s bail terms after he allegedly contacted a potential witness through an encrypted messaging app.

Bankman-Fried had offered to stay off Signal and other encrypted apps in a court filing this week and asked for oral arguments on the issue to be canceled, but the judge rejected the proposal and said the hearing will go ahead this week.

Disclaimer: Beginning in 2021, Michael McCaffrey, the former CEO and majority owner of The Block, took a series of loans from founder and former FTX and Alameda CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. McCaffrey resigned from the company in December 2022 after failing to disclose those transactions.

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