In a very surprising twist, the request from the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) seeking the court to revoke the bail of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the co-founder and former CEO of FTX Derivatives Exchange has been granted.
SBF bail tussle takes a twist
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York took a stand on the bail hearing today as he appears unconvinced of the excuses for the allegations of witness tampering that the DoJ has accused him of.
The embattled crypto entrepreneur and pioneer was granted a $250 million bail last December after he was extradited from The Bahamas where he was first apprehended and remanded.
While many saw the bail conditions as a rather contentious one, SBF has not made it easy for his lawyers as he has unduly reached out to former FTX General Counsel Ryne Miller as well as making use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to watch the Super Bowl as his lawyers argued.
These moves, compounded by the sharing of Caroline Ellison’s personal diary with the Press were seen as an unfounded move that the DOJ believes are enough to revoke the bail granted to the FTX founder.
Despite the best efforts of SBF’s legal counsel, he will now be remanded in prison until his next hearing which will not come until October this of year.
Will there be peace for all now?
Many industry insiders observing the case believe the handling of the Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal case has been unfair when the role of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is factored into the mix.
Commentators believe the SEC looked the other way when it comes to FTX with a known shady business model while cracking down on legitimate businesses like Coinbase and Binance exchanges respectively.
With SBF now back in jail, most of these assumptions of favoritism might be quelled as well as allegations that he might be connected with some crypto schemes such as the launch of a memecoin in a bid to cover his continuously growing legal fees.
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