Attorneys for Sam Bankman-Fried on Friday rejected as “totally insufficient” the federal government’s plan for letting the jailed founding father of the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency trade put together for his October fraud trial.
In a letter to US District Choose Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, the attorneys mentioned giving Bankman-Fried simply two days every week, and not using a devoted pc, to assessment the “extraordinary quantity” of proof violated his Sixth Modification constitutional proper to efficient counsel and assist his protection.
They mentioned it additionally undermined Kaplan’s expectation that Bankman-Fried would get a minimum of 9 hours a day to assessment proof, and left their consumer no option to share supplies with them via Google Docs or electronic mail.
“That is totally insufficient and Mr. Bankman-Fried won’t be able to meaningfully take part in his protection, as is his proper below the Sixth Modification,” the attorneys mentioned.
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys requested that he be allowed to satisfy with them 5 days every week on the Manhattan federal courthouse in preparation for the Oct. 2 trial. He’s being held on the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn, NY.
A spokesman for US Lawyer Damian Williams in Manhattan declined remark.
Prosecutors had in a letter earlier Friday instructed Kaplan that federal marshals had supplied “extraordinary lodging” on the Brooklyn jail, reflecting the amount of supplies and the trial schedule.
Each letters redacted a few of the proposed lodging, which prosecutors mentioned was wanted due to safety considerations.
Prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried of stealing billions of {dollars} from FTX clients to prop up a separate hedge fund, conduct dangerous trades, purchase property and make political donations.
The 31-year-old former billionaire has pleaded not responsible. He can be arraigned on Aug. 22 on the latest model of his indictment, which has seven fraud and conspiracy costs.
Kaplan revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail on Aug. 11, discovering possible trigger to consider Bankman-Fried broke the legislation by attempting to affect witnesses who’re anticipated to testify in opposition to him.
Bankman-Fried had been below home arrest at his mother and father’ dwelling in Palo Alto, California.
The Brooklyn jail, with about 1,549 inmates, has been plagued by situations that public defenders have known as “inhumane.”
A federal decide recommended in 2021 that the jail and a now-closed federal jail in Manhattan have been “run by morons.”
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys beforehand represented Ghislaine Maxwell, the previous girlfriend of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who complained for months that she couldn’t put together successfully within the Brooklyn jail for her intercourse trafficking trial.