Medias seek to disclose the SBF’s $250M bond bail guarantors

Top leading news media companies seek to uncover those players, who supported FTX’s former CEO SBF to get an easy bail from the court.

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is the co-founder & former CEO of the FTX exchange. SBF misused the FTX customers’ funds for personal benefits. In Nov 2022, FTX collapsed badly & filed for bankruptcy in a US bankruptcy court under the chapter 11 code, along with 100s of its affiliated crypto companies like Alameda Research, FTX.US, etc. On 3 Jan 2023, Court granted bail for SBF, on behalf of a $250 million bail bond. Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, SBF’s parents, were the two co-signers of the bail.

On 12 Jan 2023, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP attorneys wrote a letter to New York District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan. Through the letter, attorneys stated that it is a right for the public to know the SBF’s guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights.

Letter wrote:

“The public (…) has an interest in knowing who it is that provided Mr. Bankman-Fried with financial backing.”

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP attorneys wrote this letter on behalf of 8 giant news media companies, which include Bloomberg, the Financial Times, and Reuters.

Attorneys claimed that many big personalities & political powers supported SBF and it is the right of the public to know who were the backers.

Other big media giants including Associated Press, CNBC, and Dow Jones also jumped in this matter and claimed through attorneys that if the court will not disclose the guarantors then it will degrade the trust of the public in the government.

According to a 12 Jan Reuters report, FTX lawyers argued that SBF’s bail guarantors’ names should be under private domain because already SBF’s parents faced huge physical threats since FTX’s bankruptcy. So it will not be a good decision to disclose the name of other bail guarantors.

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