Eight big media companies -including Bloomberg, Financial Times and Reuters- have demanded that the identity of the two people responsible for guaranteeing the $250 million bail of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried be made public.
In a January 12 letter to New York District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, Lawyers for Davis Wright Tremaine LLP – acting on behalf of the media giants – argue that “the public’s right to know Bankman-Fried’s guarantors outweighs its rights to privacy and security.”
“The public […] is interested in knowing who provided financial backing to Mr. Bankman-Fried.”
“[Especialmente] given Mr. Bankman-Fried’s close relationships with financial industry leaders, investors, prominent Silicon Valley billionaires and elected representatives,” they argued.
The other news outlets seeking to persuade the judge to reveal the identities of Bankman-Fried’s guarantors are the Associated Press, CNBC, Dow Jones, Insider and the Washington Post.
The lawyers also argued that, Given Bankman-Fried’s close ties to “some of the richest, most powerful and politically connected people” on the planet, such non-disclosure could undermine “public confidence in our governmental institutions and political leaders.”
Lawyers for the media also argued that, While her bail bonds were sealed in a 2020 case involving Jeffrey Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, Bankman-Fried’s alleged financial crimes are nowhere near as serious as those charged with Maxwell:
“While Mr. Bankman-Fried is charged with serious financial crimes, a public association with him does not carry nearly the same stigma as with the Jeffrey Epstein underage sex trafficking scandal.”
The letter was in response to the court’s decision on January 3 to approve Bankman-Fried’s petition to suppress the names and identifying information of her two non-parental guarantors.
According to a Reuters report on January 12, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers previously argued that Bankman-Fried’s guarantees should be kept secret, as Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried – the parents and co-signers of Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail – have received continuous physical threats since the catastrophic collapse of FTX in early november.
If the names of the bondsmen were released, there would be “serious cause for concern” for the safety and well-being of those two people, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued.
The names of Bankman-Fried’s guarantors are not the only ones that have been called for by the mainstream media to be made public.
Various media outlets have also called on Delaware Judge John Dorseywhich is overseeing the bankruptcy case of FTX, to reveal the names of up to nine million customers involved in the legal process.
Nevertheless, Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey ruled Jan. 11 to keep creditor information private for now.
Update Jan 13, 3:45am UTC: Added additional quotes from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP’s letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan.
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