Less than a month after disgraced former crypto billionaire, Sam Bankman-Fried's bail was revoked and he was thrown in prison - where his vegan diet and supplies of Adderall were replaced with water, bread and peanut butter - on Wednesday afternoon the crypto fraudster who desperately tried to bribe every Democrat he could find (and almost succeeded), lost an appeal asking to released from a Brooklyn jail after complaining he cannot properly prepare for his trial over the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
In rejecting Bankman-Fried's request, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan nonetheless said it would ask the next available three-judge panel to consider it.
As we reported on Aug 11, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked Bankman-Fried's $250 million bail after finding that the former billionaire likely tampered with witnesses at least twice. Bankman-Fried quickly appealed, arguing he would be unable to "properly prepare" for his scheduled Oct. 3 trial from behind bars.
Prosecutors, who accused the 31-year-old of stealing billions from FTX customers to plug holes at his Alameda Research hedge fund - pushed for Bankman-Fried to be jailed after he shared the personal writings of Caroline Ellison, Alameda's former chief executive and his onetime romantic partner, with a New York Times reporter.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges, and said he shared Ellison's writings to defend his reputation, not to intimidate her.
Ellison is cooperating with prosecutors and will testify against him.
According to Reuters, in court papers on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried's lawyers said the arrangement to give him several hours a day to review evidence on a laptop at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn has proven inadequate.
They said he "lost more than four hours on Friday when he had to return to his cell for a prisoner count, and lost more time over the weekend" and let's not even mention the fact that SBF's Brooklyn prison is hardly known for serving the 3-Michelin star vegan meals SBF has grown accustomed to.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said the jail has authorized Bankman-Fried's purchase of a second laptop.
Bankman-Fried's lawyers have not sought to delay the trial. Kaplan said last week that he would consider such a request.
