A recent report revealed that the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has countered the recent plea motion staged by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) requesting a temporary release during his trial coming up next month. In other news, Su Zhu, the founder of the collapsed Three Arrows Capital (3AC), has been arrested in Singapore.
According to the first news, the legal team representing the former CEO of FTX exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, has motioned for the court to release the defendant to them tentatively when he starts his trial. However, the US Justice Department has filed a counter motion, asking the court to deny SBF’s request even if it is attached with the severest conditions.
The prosecutors claimed that SBF doesn’t have anything significant to contribute to the work of his defense team, adding nothing to their experience. They said that his new request is merely presenting his old proposals for short release in order to contribute efforts that are not specified to his legal team, which he argued has been prevented by the detention.
Court Rejects SBF’s Requests
In the motion, SBF’s attorney said he should be released into their custody with guards monitoring his movements. They also proposed that he would be prevented from having access to any electronic gadgets such as phones or laptops. DoJ stated that the requests don’t align with legal criteria for an accused.
Furthermore, the prosecutors stated that the accused’s repeated complaints about his inconveniences in jail do not overshadow the risks his release from prison can pose, referencing his unacceptable conduct prior to his detention when he reportedly used the privilege of being out of prison to tamper with witnesses of his upcoming trial.
In addition, the DoJ highlighted that an appeals court alongside Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees SBF’s trial, had both rejected his plea for temporary release. According to the Judge’s ruling, SBF’s reasons for requesting to be temporarily released do not have a significant base as he refused to explain the specific efforts his detention deters. They also rejected the motion as they questioned what help he could render his legal reps that he hadn’t while he was out of prison on bail.
CEO of 3AC Got Arrested In Singapore
Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of Three Arrows Capitals (3AC) hedge funds, Su Zhu, which collapsed last year, has been detained in Singapore while he was trying to flee the country, disobeying the court’s committal order against him.
In the report, Teneo claimed that on the 25th September, a federal court approved a committal order for Su Zhu to be arrested as requested by Teneo. However, to boycott the arrest, Zhu reportedly attempted to flee the country, but he was caught in the act and apprehended at Changi Airport in Singapore.
The initial committal order was mentioned by Teneo, who reportedly claimed that the defendant refused to honor a court order that was related to their investigation on the collapse of the multi-billion dollar hedge fund collapse last year. The prosecutor claimed that the cooperation Zhu was essential to recover the creditors’ funds as he was the firm’s CEO, but he was uncooperative, which led to the committal motion.
Zhu to Serve His Jail Time While Davies Flees
According to reports, the whole saga that led to the fall of 3AC was initiated when Terraform Labs imploded in 2022, taking a massive toll on 3AC as it leveraged heavily on long positions using crypto assets and hundreds of millions borrowed from different cryptocurrency lending firms. Since the failure of 3AC, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the firm’s co-founders, had been fleeing liquidators while keeping their online presence active.
The committal order against Zhu requires him to stay behind bars for four months, and the report has it that Davies, too, was slammed with similar rulings. After his apprehension, the defendant is mandated to complete his four months in prison as the court orders.
Reports showed that during his prison time, the liquidators whom Zhu and his partner had been avoiding would have ample time to engage him and ask their questions related to the collapse of the 3AC hedge fund. Also, the liquidators now have the opportunity to ensure the 3AC founder complies with all court orders. As of now, Davies remains on the run, and the authorities are looking earnestly for him.
