Topline
In a handwritten note filed in court Tuesday, a retired Connecticut police officer chided the judge overseeing criminal proceedings against Sam Bankman-Fried for allowing the one-time billionaire to await trial from his parents’ cushy California home, the second such recent letter from a private individual, as Bankman-Fried’s questionable behavior while on bail leads prosecutors to push for more restrictions.
Sam Bankman-Fried, center, leaves federal court last week.
Key Facts
Thomas Morrissey, a former detective in New Haven, added a handwritten postscript to his original letter dated January 31 calling on Judge Lewis Kaplan to reverse his December decision to grant Bankman-Fried bail.
“He continues to mock you and the system of justice,” Morrissey wrote in the newly disclosed note to Kaplan, referring to Bankman-Fried, the former head of cryptocurrency exchange FTX who will stand trial in October for eight criminal counts for fraudulent activities in his one-time multibillion-dollar empire.
Morrissey, who is a private citizen whose message will likely have no impact on legal proceedings, concluded: “It’s disrespectful!! Please do your job!!!”
The seemingly unsolicited letter comes as prosecutors argue for stricter bail conditions for Bankman-Fried, whom Kaplan already banned from using encrypted messaging apps and virtual private networks after accessing both while at his parents’ $1.8 million house near Stanford University (Bankman-Fried claimed he only used a VPN to watch NFL games).
Another private citizen, only identified as S Keithley, argued for Bankman-Fried’s return to jail in a separate letter to Kaplan dated February 9, saying it’s “amazing” Bankman-Fried isn’t in jail “after causing historical and stunning losses to thousands of people,” concluding the note: “Money does talk.”
What To Watch For
Kaplan hasn’t drastically changed the terms of Bankman-Fried’s pretrial release, but in a hearing last week, he pushed prosecutors and defense attorneys to explain why the former billionaire should be allowed to stay at his parents’ house. “Why am I being asked to turn him loose in this garden of electronic devices?,” Kaplan asked prosecutors. Attorneys representing Bankman-Fried agreed Tuesday to pay for an “independent technical expert” for the court to consult regarding Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions.
Key Background
Bankman-Fried has been surprisingly talkative in the three months following the collapse of FTX and his hedge fund Alameda Research, including since his December 23 release from U.S. federal prison, even launching a Substack newsletter last month. The 30-year recounted his week-long detention in the Bahamas late last year to Forbes, lamenting the worst part of his stay was the lack of internet access, calling it “80% of the total cost of being in prison.”
Tangent
Larry Kramer, the former dean of Stanford Law School was one of the two individuals to post bail for Bankman-Fried other than his parents, according to court filings unsealed last week. Kramer wrote to Forbes it was to help his “close friends” Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, his former colleagues at Stanford, as they “face…crisis.”
Further Reading
Ex-Stanford Dean Bailed Out Bankman-Fried To Help ‘Steadfast Friends,’ He Says (Forbes)
Exclusive: Sam Bankman-Fried Recalls His Hellish Week In A Caribbean Prison (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/02/21/please-do-your-job-private-citizens-urge-judge-to-jail-bankman-fried-before-fraud-trial/