In 30 minutes: a hearing on whether Sam Bankman-Fried will be remanded to jail after leaking to the press private diary entries of a witness in his case.
@molly0xfff I literally have a computer with Sam's name on it. I threw away a laptop that the world was going apeshit about, and that entire mess around Hunter Biden having money is about as funny as everyone realizing that Epstein Oppenheimered folks ages ago.
@molly0xfff Let's hope the judge is sufficiently annoyed by this act of contempt (actually, the act was probably intended to intimidate a witness or contaminate the jury pool)
@molly0xfff I guess it would only be worth it if the government plans to actually take him in custody right from the courtroom if their argument prevails.
An attorney for the USAO is arguing that SBF has the right to talk to the press, to deny the charges against him, etc. — but not to intimidate witnesses.
Also arguing that there are jails where he could be held that would permit him to have a laptop which he could use to review defense materials (for example, Putnam County Correctional Facility)
Attorney is now proposing home detention with no Internet access except for meetings with his legal team. Not immediately clear if they're still seeking to remand him to jail or not.
Judge is pressing SBF's attorneys on SBF's history of telling others to delete messages and not preserve documents. "Am I correct the defendant said legal cases are built on documents and that's why you should delete?"
Judge Kaplan has said he is ready to rule, and is outlining his reasoning. Cites multiple adjustments that have had to be made to tighten bail conditions already, cites SBF's message to another witness seeking a "constructive relationship".
Judge Kaplan is not buying the defense's story that the conversations with the NYT reporters were simply about SBF's First Amendment right to defend himself in the press.
@molly0xfff i wonder whether the judge is pissed enough to send him to an actual facility or just agree to home detention? i can't see this ending without a serious restriction...
SBF's defense have said they intend to appeal, and applied for a stay. Judge Kaplan denied the application to stay the decision, saying "I disagree there's anything novel here other than the factual issue." #FTX#SBF#cryptocurrency#crypto
But really, no stay needed, my ruling is final, you're bringing up no issue that isn't normally considered in these cases. Go take it up with the 2nd Circuit. Oh, and by the way, appeals of these sorts of procedural matters (bail conditions) very rarely succeed.
@rufflejax so apparently Sam Bankman-Fried just had his bail revoked and was marched off to jail, because he shared NegaJax's private diaries with the New York Times.
The guy, similar to the rest of crypto characters, have complete disregard for a law and rules based system. Sadly they get away with so much. It is very satisfying to see this outcome.
@molly0xfff seems like this is a good opportunity to share this photo of an FTX-sponsored fortune cookie I received less than two weeks before SBF was arrested.
The fortune having a very different meaning for SBF than originally intended. 🤣
@molly0xfff SBF was given so much more leeway than a regular defendant. White collar crime is treated with kid gloves and this guy just couldn't stop himself from committing more felonies while under house arrest.
And still, his defense counsel is asking for more special treatment!
"Oh he couldn't review his case from jail! Can he still stay at his parents house but be grounded from the internet?"
@molly0xfff As. separate crime, wouldn't this alone mean jail time? I mean, he's jailed until trial, but isn't this now a SEPARATE crime to be investigated and prosecuted?
@molly0xfff I assume the history is after everything went down? Having a general policy/advice of leaving little evidence behind isn't evidence of a crime or witness tampering (I mean, we shred all our recycling paper and try to make it unidentifiable, since while we try to separate our trash correctly, we'd rather not be fined if we mess it up; that's not evidence that we're intending to not separate correctly).
But if the history is after things went down...that's not actually subtle.
@molly0xfff I read the NYT piece in question... what was he thinking this would accomplish? I can't be the only one thinking this was both technically another crime but also makes a witness against him on the first crime seem sincere and sympathetic (if I didn't already think she was plenty guilty).
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