Damian Williams, United States Lawyer for the Southern District of New York, has petitioned the courtroom to delay civil proceedings in opposition to former FTX chief government officer Sam Bankman-Fried “till the conclusion of the parallel felony case”.
In Feb. 7 filings, Williams requested that the courtroom subject an order staying civil proceedings in addition to discovery from the U.S. Securities and Change 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. Based on Williams, the felony case in opposition to Bankman-Fried was “prone to have a big affect” on the SEC and CFTC civil instances.
“All the information at subject within the Civil Instances are additionally at subject within the Felony Case,” mentioned the submitting. “Certainly, as to the scheme to defraud FTX.com prospects, the scheme to defraud FTX.com traders, the conspiracy to commit securities fraud by materially deceptive FTX.com traders, and the conspiracy to commit commodities fraud by misappropriating FTX.com buyer funds meant for use for swaps buying and selling, just about the entire identical 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
Concerning staying discovery proceedings, the U.S. Lawyer claimed that with out intervention, Bankman-Fried had the instruments to “improperly receive impeachment materials relating to the Authorities’s witnesses, circumvent the felony discovery guidelines, and improperly tailor his protection within the Felony 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 business
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 would forestall SBF from taking part within the issuance, buy, supply or sale of any securities aside from his private account, whereas the CFTC mentioned it was searching for injunctive and different equitable reduction in addition to civil financial penalties in opposition to the previous CEO, in addition to FTX and Alameda.