The Bill Clinton-appointed judge overseeing the billion-dollar fraud case of Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to hide the identities of those who paid the disgraced FTX CEO’s $250 million bail.
Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder and a Democrat super donor, pleaded not guilty to the charges in a New York court on Tuesday.
Ahead of his court appearance, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers asked Clinton-appointed U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to keep his bail guarantors a secret.
Judge Kaplan approved the request to keep two large sureties in Bankman-Fried’s case anonymous.
New replacement US District Judge Lewis Kaplan just ruled that the two sureties and their guarantees will remain sealed.
— Bob Bishop – Forensic Investigator (@BobBish40288847) January 3, 2023
Kaplan ruled today that two entities that backed Bankman-Fried would remain a secret per the request of those involved.
Two sureties in the Bankman-Fried case remain unknown.
There is some speculation, however, that one or both of these sureties might be related to Stanford University.
Bankman-Fried’s parents’ house is near the campus and may be owned by the university.
If Stanford is involved, another possibility is that the University might be a major creditor of FTX.
The list of creditors to date has also remained a secret by the courts.
Ahead of the ruling, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued that there is “no need for public disclosure” of the identities of two people who will help secure the bail in order to protect them from potential scrutiny and harassment, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The lawyers filed a letter asking the judge to keep the names confidential on Tuesday.
Bankman-Fried’s bail package is $250 million.
“If the two remaining sureties are publicly identified, they will likely be subjected to probing media scrutiny, and potentially targeted for harassment, despite having no substantive connection to the case,” Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said.
“Consequently, the privacy and safety of the sureties are ‘countervailing factors’ that significantly outweigh the presumption of public access to the very limited information at issue,” the lawyers added.
The judge reportedly asked that, in addition to Bankman-Fried and his parents, the bond be signed by at least two other people of “considerable means,” one of whom cannot be a relative.
