FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is seeking temporary release from jail in order to work on his defense with his lawyers at the federal courthouse in Manhattan.
On Friday, Bankman-Fried's lawyers sent a letter to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, stating that their client was unable to adequately review the extensive documents related to his case while detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn.
According to Bankman-Fried's lawyer Christian Everdell, the government recently provided him with three-quarters of a million pages of Slack communications, which were due months ago.
“Just last week the government produced three quarters of a million pages of Slack communications, which were supposed to be produced months ago, that Mr. Bankman-Fried will have no hope of reviewing under this schedule,” Everdell wrote.
He emphasized that it is crucial for Bankman-Fried to work closely with his legal team and use an internet-enabled laptop at the courthouse to expedite the review process, especially with his fraud trial scheduled for October.
In response to Bankman-Fried's appeal, prosecutors raised concerns about his compliance with requirements relating to his planned defense.
They said that Bankman-Fried has yet to provide all the necessary information regarding the advice he relied on for his actions.
Prosecutors warned that, unless Bankman-Fried promptly discloses details about the advice he received and its source, he should be prohibited from introducing such a defense at trial.
While prosecutors offered to load documents onto hard drives for Bankman-Fried's use at MDC, a laptop solution was unfeasible.
Initially, prosecutors considered transferring Bankman-Fried to a smaller, upstate facility where he could
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