Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Judge’s Decision to Reveal $250M Bond Backers

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Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Judge’s Decision to Reveal Names of His $250M Bond Backers

  • Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has appealed a judge’s decision to allow the identities of the two currently unidentified people who co-signed his $250 million bail bond to be made public.
  • U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled early last week in favor of four separate petitions by a number of news organizations seeking the names of these individuals.
  • Now that an appeal has been filed, Kaplan’s ruling has been stayed until at least Feb. 14.

Background

Former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried had requested a modification to his bail conditions which would have allowed him to use certain messaging tools, but U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected this request and denied it without prejudice until a hearing on Thursday. A slew of media companies had then filed suit to get the court to release the identities of the two people who co-signed Bankman-Fried’s bond, saying that “the public’s interest in this matter cannot be overstated”.

Appeal Filed

Bankman-Fried subsequently filed an appeal against this ruling on Tuesday, resulting in Kaplan’s decision being stayed until at least February 14th. The former FTX CEO’s lawyers had argued that there was potential for physical threats towards those parties involved if their identities were revealed.

Judge Ruling

Early last week, Judge Lewis Kaplan from U.S District Court in Southern New York ruled in favor of four separate petitions from media outlets such as Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and CoinDesk for identifying co-signers on Bankman Fried’s $250 million bail bond – apart from his parents already known publicly . This ruling was intended not only for identifying them , but also allowing access information about them .

Public Interest

The news organizations stated that “the public’s interest in this matter cannot be overstated” and argued that it should not remain anonymous any longer . They argued because it is important to know who are supporting such high amount bails bonds , especially when they are connected with well known personalities like Sam Bankman Fried .