Former CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-fried claims prosecutors have missed discovery deadlines for key pieces of evidence required in the defense of a series of fraud charges.
On June 5, Bankman-Fried's attorneys told U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in a letter that the government had not handed over all the contents of five electronic devices that were due to be discovered by the end of March.
A laptop and an iPhone belonging to the former CEO of Alameda Research carolina ellison and a laptop belonging to FTX co-founder Gary Wang were among the devices.
According to the letter from Bankman-Fried's lawyers:
"As the trial date is less than four months away, the defense is concerned that the late production of such a voluminous and important discovery will affect defense preparation."
Bankman-Fried is due to face the court on October 2 in a litany of fraud charges, claims of illegal political donations and bribery to the Chinese government. He does not want to postpone the trial date and additional motions may be filed "if newly produced discovery provides grounds for further motions," according to the letter.
The letter went on to state that the government has also not submitted any information related to FTX's debtors. โThese late productions have a cumulative effect on the defense's ability to adequately prepare for trial,โ he said, before revealing how much is missing:
"The five productions so far are voluminous, with a total of more than 3.6 million documents and more than 10 million pages."
The first four productions included about 1.1 million documents and the latest, received by the defense on May 25, includes just under 2.5 million documents "which more than triples the documents in existing discovery."
Related: FTX Leadership Sues Sam Bankman-Fried Over $220 Million Deal Made Before Bankruptcy
Meanwhile, the FTX bankers tasked with rescuing the beleaguered company are looking to cash in on shares in a company that is part of the currently hyped artificial intelligence sector.
On June 6, Semafor reported that Perella Weinberg, the bankrupt early-exchange investment banking firm, has been "causing the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shares" in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic to potential investors.
According to FTX's balance sheets at the time of its bankruptcy in November 2022, the company had $500 million value of Anthropic's stock, which is estimated to be worth much more now that the AI โโboom is in full swing.
anthropic raised $450 million in its latest Series C funding round on May 23, at a reported valuation of $4.6bn.
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