Judge Lewis Kaplan granted a petition by eight media outlets demanding the disclosure of the names of two individuals who posted a $250 million bail for the former head of the collapsed FTX crypto exchange, Sam Bankman-Freed. The judge allowed the defendant's lawyers to challenge the decision until February 7, so the disclosure of the names of the guarantors is not guaranteed. According to Lewis Kaplan, lawyers are likely to appeal, and possibly the deadline will be extended until February 14.
Petitioning Media: Financial Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, Associated Press, Washington Post, Insider and Dow Jones. The editors believe that the public has the right to know the names of those who support the former head of FTX. Moreover, everyone knows the businessman's connections with the leaders of the financial industry, investors and billionaires from Silicon Valley.
Lawyers for Bankman-Fried at Davis Wright Tremaine believe that disclosing the names of guarantors infringes on their privacy and security. Lawyers cite the fact that after the FTX scandal, Bankman-Fried's parents began to receive threats.
According to the judge, he has no doubts about it, but he still has not received material evidence of threats.. Moreover, said Lewis Kaplan, the disclosure of the names of the guarantors does not mean that they will face similar threats.
Earlier, Guardian Australia reported that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched an investigation into the activities of the local division of the FTX exchange eight months before the collapse of the site.