As early as Tuesday, a federal court may reveal the identities of the bail backers who helped the parents of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried secure his release on a $250 million bond while he awaits trial on charges he defrauded investors prior to the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire.
On Jan. 30, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of a motion filed by multiple news organizations that argued the revelation of the two mystery bail backers would serve the public interest given his close ties to a number of prominent financial industry figures and politicians.
The identities of the two unknown bail backers may be revealed on Tuesday, Feb. 7 unless Bankman-Fried's attorneys appeal the decision which could delay the revelation until Feb. 14 pending the outcome of the appeal. Kaplan noted in his ruling to unseal the names of the two bail guarantors that an "appeal is likely" to be made by Bankman-Fried's defense team.
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Kaplan wrote in his opinion that while the public had only a "weak" right to know the identities of the unknown bail backers, that interest outweighed the arguments made by Bankman-Fried's defense team in their effort to preserve confidentiality.
Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are both professors at Stanford Law School, co-signed their son's $250 million bond with two other guarantors who signed $500,000 and $200,000 bonds.
Bankman-Fried's attorneys said that his parents have faced harassment and physical threats since FTX collapsed and entered bankruptcy in November. They claimed in a court filing from mid-January that three men drove a car into the metal barricade outside the family home, where he is staying while under house arrest per the terms of his bail agreement.
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In light of those threats, Bankman-Fried's attorneys argued that the identities of the two unknown bail backers should remain under seal because of "serious cause for concern" that they may face similar threats.
Kaplan disagreed with that argument and wrote, "The amounts of the individual bonds – $500,000 and $200,000 – do not suggest that the non-parental sureties are persons of great wealth or likely to attract attention of the types and volumes of that to which the defendant's parents appear to have been subjected."
It is relatively rare for a court to keep the identities of bail guarantors under seal indefinitely. However, Bankman-Fried's legal team includes Mark Cohen, who represented Ghislaine Maxwell in her sex trafficking trial during the Jeffrey Epstein trial. Maxwell's legal team successfully appealed to keep her bail guarantors under seal – although her bail request was ultimately rejected.
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Bankman-Fried's parents and the two unknown bail guarantors are liable for the bond if he leaves the country to avoid trial. In the case of his parents, that could involve the forfeiture of their $3.5 million home.
Bankman-Fried faces eight charges including wire fraud on customers, plus a related conspiracy charge; wire fraud on lenders, plus a conspiracy charge; in addition to conspiracies to commit commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and violate campaign finance laws. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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In total, the charges Bankman-Fried faces carry a total potential sentence of up to 115 years in prison based on federal sentencing guidelines for those crimes – although if convicted he might not face maximum sentences on all the counts against him.
Bankman-Fried's trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in October.
