According to his legal team, the SBF cannot be expected to review all charges brought against him in prison.

Less than two weeks after a court revoked Sam Bankman-Fried's bail, his legal team asked for his freedom to be restored on weekdays, arguing that the prison's restrictions were surprisingly too strict and did not provide him with the necessary conditions to adequately prepare for his upcoming trial.

Inappropriate conditions

SBF’s coveted $250 million bail was revoked on August 11 following the leak of Caroline Ellison’s private diary and other inappropriate contacts with former FTX colleagues, which the presiding judge deemed witness tampering.

As a result, Sam has been spending time in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) ever since, which is said to be one of the worst jails in New York City.

Besides plastic-laden food, bad plumbing and too many residents, the detention center also has a library full of cheap novels, which is probably what SBF had in mind when he filed a request for a new status as a weekend offender.

According to SBF’s attorneys, while incarcerated at Brooklyn MDC, SBF was unable to access and review a battery of evidence for which he had to answer in October.

"Three-quarters of the government's Slack communications produced just last week should have been produced months ago, but Mr Bankman-Fried will have no hope of having them reviewed according to this timetable."

In return, the prosecution accused SBF of being slow to present a defense strategy from the outset. Therefore, the Prosecutor's Office requested that SBF be disqualified from using his planned defense strategy if he did not submit all information related to this, namely that his actions during his tenure as head of FTX were the result of his reliance on lawyers.

Alternatives to Workday Freedom

After hearing arguments from both parties, Judge Kaplan declined to rule in favor of SBF. Instead, he requested an alternative resolution to the document review issue.

One option was to provide all the files on the hard drive and then deliver it to Brooklyn MDC. However, this was rejected as not feasible.

A second suggested alternative was to move SBF to a smaller jail in the county, where internet access could be provided under supervision. However, prosecutors and jail officials balked at the idea.

At this time, SBF will remain incarcerated at the same facility pending further review of his situation by Judge Kaplan. #SBF  #保释