Damian Williams, United States Legal professional for the Southern District of New York, has petitioned the court docket to delay civil proceedings in opposition to former FTX chief govt officer Sam Bankman-Fried “till the conclusion of the parallel felony case”.
In Feb. 7 filings, Williams requested that the court docket challenge an order staying civil proceedings in addition to discovery from the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee and Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee in opposition to Bankman-Fried till after his felony case, scheduled to go to trial in October. In accordance with Williams, the felony case in opposition to Bankman-Fried was “prone to have a major affect” on the SEC and CFTC civil instances.
“The entire info at challenge within the Civil Instances are additionally at challenge within the Prison Case,” mentioned the submitting. “Certainly, as to the scheme to defraud FTX.com clients, the scheme to defraud FTX.com buyers, the conspiracy to commit securities fraud by materially deceptive FTX.com buyers, and the conspiracy to commit commodities fraud by misappropriating FTX.com buyer funds supposed for use for swaps buying and selling, nearly all the similar paperwork, witnesses, and different proof that may be utilized by the SEC and CFTC to show their claims arising from these schemes would even be used to show the Authorities’s felony case.”
U.S. prosecutors ask to postpone SEC, CFTC instances in opposition to Bankman-Fried https://t.co/wxU2nOPxps pic.twitter.com/4RiSODbuZo
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 7, 2023
Relating to staying discovery proceedings, the U.S. Legal professional claimed that with out intervention, Bankman-Fried had the instruments to “improperly acquire impeachment materials relating to the Authorities’s witnesses, circumvent the felony discovery guidelines, and improperly tailor his protection within the Prison Case”. The decide overseeing SBF’s felony case has already banned the previous FTX CEO from utilizing encrypted messaging apps as a situation of his bail after allegations of contacting witnesses probably concerned within the case.
Attorneys for Bankman-Fried mentioned he didn’t object to staying the SEC and CFTC civil instances till the conclusion of the felony case. The authorized groups for former Alameda Analysis CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang consented to staying the CFTC case. The 2 have already settled their civil instances with the SEC.
Associated: FTX fallout: SBF trial might set precedent for the crypto trade
Each the SEC and CFTC filed separate lawsuits in opposition to Bankman-Fried in December, shortly after his arrest within the Bahamas. The SEC’s criticism sought injunctions that might stop SBF from collaborating within the issuance, buy, supply or sale of any securities aside from his private account, whereas the CFTC mentioned it was on the lookout for injunctive and different equitable reduction in addition to civil financial penalties in opposition to the previous CEO, in addition to FTX and Alameda.
