Since Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud final 12 months, he has employed a brand new lawyer recognized for courtroom showmanship. A gaggle of sympathetic regulation professors pushed for a reassessment of their actions. And his kinfolk turned for assist to former staff of FTX, the collapsed cryptocurrency trade he based.
From a federal detention middle in Brooklyn, Mr. Bankman-Fried, 31, has continued to struggle his case behind the scenes, as he argues for a lenient sentence and prepares to attraction his conviction. On Tuesday, his legal professionals are anticipated to file a authorized transient within the US District Court docket in Manhattan, making the case that he doesn’t need to go to jail for the remainder of his life.
The submitting is a vital step earlier than Mr. Bankman-Fried's sentencing on March 28, when the federal choose overseeing his case, Lewis A. Kaplan, will determine how lengthy to serve the previous billionaire on fees that carry a sentence most of 110 years. However it’s only one level in an extended technique orchestrated by the household and mates of Mr. Bankman-Fried to announce his conviction and engineer a public reassessment of his management at FTX.
Since final 12 months's trial, Mr. Bankman-Fried has employed Marc Mukasey, who as soon as represented former President Donald J. Trump, to supervise his sentencing, in addition to a separate legal professional on the regulation agency Shapiro Arato Bach to take care of the attraction. His dad and mom, Stanford College regulation professors Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, have additionally been concerned within the protection, serving to to line up individuals to write down letters for his or her son that can be included within the memo.
Natalie Tien, a former assistant to Mr. Bankman-Fried at FTX, stated she wrote a letter for her sentencing memo after exchanging emails with Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried.
“I don't maintain a grudge towards him, and I really feel dangerous for his dad and mom,” Ms. Tien stated.
A spokesman for Mr. Bankman-Fried declined to remark. Representatives for Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Federal prosecutors are keen to elucidate their very own suggestion of conviction in a submitting due March 15. Even when Choose Kaplan decides to not impose the utmost sentence, Mr. Bankman-Fried might face many years behind bars.
The choose “might nonetheless give a really critical sentence given how younger Mr. Bankman-Fried is; say, a sentence of 30 or 35 years,” stated Miriam Baer, vice dean of Brooklyn Legislation College.
A spokesman for Damian Williams, the US legal professional for the Southern District of New York, declined to remark.
Earlier than FTX collapsed in November 2022, Mr. Bankman-Fried was probably the most distinguished figures within the renegade crypto business, a broadly celebrated billionaire whose face was splashed on billboards and journal covers.
In October, a federal jury convicted him of stealing $8 billion from FTX prospects to finance political contributions, investments in different firms and actual property purchases.
Mr. Bankman-Fried has maintained that he’s harmless and plans to attraction. This month, he changed his trial legal professionals, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, with Mr. Mukasey, who has a status for sturdy courtroom displays.
Final 12 months, Mr. Mukasey scored a victory in his protection of Trevor Milton, the founding father of the electrical truck producer Nikola, who was sentenced in 2022 for defrauding traders. A federal choose sentenced Mr. Milton in December to 4 years in jail, a lot lower than the 11 years that prosecutors had requested.
Working in parallel with Mr. Mukasey is an appellate lawyer and former prosecutor, Alexandra Shapiro, a companion of Shapiro Arato Bach. It’s anticipated to current the attraction of Mr. Bankman-Fried after the sentence.
Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried additionally performed a behind-the-scenes position. Final month, Ms. Tien stated, she obtained a textual content from one among Mr. Bankman-Fried's supporters, asking if he would assist with the memo. Then he obtained a follow-up e-mail from the dad and mom of the FTX founder explaining the sentencing course of and inspiring him to write down “from the center” about his son.
They had been “like testing the water,” Ms. Tien stated in an interview. “I just about simply stated sure immediately.”
Legislation professors who know Mr. Bankman-Fried's dad and mom additionally pressed his case.
In January, two shut mates of the household, Yale Legislation Professor Ian Ayres and Stanford Legislation Professor John Donohue, wrote an essay for the Venture Syndicate web site, arguing that “every little thing” FTX had accomplished effectively sufficient to make its wholesome prospects.
“No matter else could also be stated of Bankman-Fried, he was a superb businessman,” Mr. Ayres and Mr. Donohue wrote.
One other regulation professor, Jonathan Lipson at Temple College, stated in an interview that he was working with David Skeel of the College of Pennsylvania regulation college on a tutorial paper criticizing Sullivan & Cromwell, the regulation agency which oversees the chapter of FTX.
In September, Mr. Lipson wrote a quick within the chapter case arguing for the appointment of an unbiased examiner to overview the actions of Sullivan & Cromwell, together with its shut collaboration with federal prosecutors. He stated he spoke with Mr. Bankman-Fried and his mom final 12 months after one other Stanford regulation professor reached out in regards to the case and provided to place them in contact.
Of their article, Mr. Lipson and Mr. Skeel argue that Sullivan & Cromwell “might distort the felony justice course of” by giving prosecutors broad entry to FTX's sources and knowledge, in line with an unpublished draft shared with the New York Occasions.
A spokesman for Sullivan & Cromwell declined to remark. In court docket paperwork, prosecutors described the sharing of knowledge as “routine follow by firms cooperating in an investigation.”
Mr. Bankman-Fried faces the lengthy odds. Felony convictions are hardly ever overturned on attraction.
Mr. Bankman-Fried has been housed on the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Middle since final summer time and has spent a lot of his time engaged on the case, stated an individual with data of the matter. He additionally shared crypto market recommendation with the watchdogs, the particular person stated, recommending investments within the digital foreign money Solana.
This month, Mr. Bankman-Fried left the detention middle for his first public court docket look because the trial, a listening to to authorize his new authorized illustration. In a Manhattan courtroom, Mr. Bankman-Fried was clean-shaven and wore a loose-fitting brown jail uniform. At occasions, he turned and smiled on the reporters standing within the gallery.
J. Edward Moreno contributed report.
