Friday, September 1, 2023

🪧 SBF protests jail by boycotting trial prep

View this email in your browser

Sam Bankman-Fried is back in pre-trial detention after leaking the diaries of his former subordinate and romantic partner, Caroline Ellison, to the press. The FTX founder hasn't been happy with these conditions, especially as they have failed to provide him with his vegan diet and the medications for his psychiatric conditions.

First things first, Bankman-Fried and every other inmate currently held in the US penal system, a system infamous for rampant human rights abuses, should have access to meals in line with their religious and moral convictions and should have access to their medications.

Opinion: SBF is proof the US justice system is broken

Second things second, Bankman-Fried has clearly benefited from his privilege, including in his very generous pre-trial release, where he was given unusual access to things like Google Docs, which he apparently used to collate the documents he provided to the press about Ellison.

Returning to detention has meant that Bankman-Fried has had additional restrictions placed on his access to technology, and therefore to the easiest possible access to documents that may aid in his preparation for his upcoming trial.  

Bankman-Fried's lawyers recently flagged to the court that the laptop he's been provided to review evidence before the trial had a very limited battery life, which is the one thing they have highlighted while requesting that he receive a temporary release to aid his preparation.

Bankman-Fried has been so frustrated with these technical issues that he has decided that while his lawyers argue on his behalf that he's struggling to prepare for his trial, he has stopped meeting with his lawyers to prepare for the trial.

It takes a certain type of privilege to complain that you are being prevented from preparing for your trial while also avoiding opportunities to prepare for your trial.  

Perhaps that is why the US Attorney felt the need to highlight that he potentially has access to the laptop for 70 hours per week and has a large team of professionals helping him prepare.

Plus, as the judge highlighted at one point, this is not some sudden deluge of documents; Bankman-Fried had unrestricted access to them for months before his own actions put him back in detention.

Bankman-Fried seems fundamentally disconnected from the reality of his situation, perhaps still believing he is 48 focused hours away from raising $10 billion and setting things right.

— by Bennett Tomlin.

Introducing: Protos Live 🔴

News and insights from across the web, curated for you by the Protos newsroom.

Sounds from the Protos newsroom

Here's what we listened to this week:

Sounds from the Protos newsroom

In other news:

SBF to offer expert witnesses $1,200 an hour to testify at his trial

As part of his defense, Bankman-Fried is looking for 'expert' witnesses who will be able to testify in his defense.

Tether CTO evasive as usual in odd Camila Russo interview

If there's one thing we all agree on: Tether is seriously working on an audit.

BitBoy cut from BitBoy Crypto — who'll save crypto now?

What's next, John McAfee being cut-out from McAfee Security?

Grayscale SEC win brings spot GBTC ETF approval a step closer

Perhaps soon the SEC will end its nonsense distinctions between spot- and futures-based ETFs for Bitcoin.

SEC says NFTs are securities in landmark case

The SEC seems to think NFTs can be securities.

FBI found child porn on Avraham Eisenberg's phone, court docs say

What are they going to do, arrest him again?

Twitter
Facebook
Website
Copyright © 2023 Protos, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:
Protos
272 Kensington High Street
London, UK W8 6ND
United Kingdom

Add us to your address book


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp

No comments:

Post a Comment

Welcome to Power Trends!

Hello, Thank you for subscribing! You will receive your first copy of Power Trends soon. We look forward ...