United States prosecutors in the criminal case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried have released text and email messages from SBF to current CEO John Ray.
In court documents released on Jan. 30, the Justice Department responded to a motion from Bankman-Friedโs legal team attempting to remove some of the proposed modifications for his bail conditions, which included barring contact with former and current FTX employees. According to prosecutors, SBF attempted to contact both current FTX CEO John Ray and FTX US general counsel Ryne Miller.
In an email to Ray on Jan. 2, Bankman-Fried said he hadnโt gotten off โon the right footโ and offered to meet the FTX CEO in person in New York City. He was allowed to leave his parentsโ California home to appear in court and enter his not-guilty plea. The message followed one from Dec. 30, in which SBF cited a Cointelegraph report in an attempt to address the status of funds tied to Alameda wallets:
โI myself canโt access the funds, but I suspect that your team likely has the ability to move and safeguard these funds […] I would be happy to talk about the ways you likely are able to access them if helpful.โ
Bankman-Fried claimed in his Jan. 12 โpre-mortem overviewโ of FTXโs collapse that law firm Sullivan & Crowell and the FTX US general counsel pressured him into naming Ray as his successor. Ray previously responded to claims from SBF regarding FTX as the former CEO having โno ongoing roleโ at the firm or its subsidiaries and โdoes not speak on their behalfโ.
Related: SBF allegedly used FTX money to invest $400M in obscure VC firm
Filings from Jan. 27 showed Bankman-Fried attempted to reach out to Miller, allegedly to โinfluenceโ his testimony in the criminal case. This prompted prosecutors to file a motion, amending SBFโs bail conditions to prevent contact with FTX employees and using encrypted messaging applications like Signal. The Jan. 30 filing included a proposed prohibition on SBF โaccessing or transferring any FTX or Alameda assets or cryptocurrencyโ.
Bankruptcy proceedings for FTX are moving forward in the District of Delaware, while SBFโs criminal trial is scheduled to begin in October in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
