US Judge To Decide if SBF Should Suffer Any Bail Restriction

• A US court will determine the bail conditions of the FTX founder today.
• Previously, the court worried that SBF was communicating via untrackable means.
• FTX’s balance sheet shows $5.5B in liquid assets and over $11.5B in user liabilities.

This Friday, a US judge will decide whether Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder, should be subject to any bail restrictions and whether or not his fraud trial, originally scheduled to begin on October 2, could be adjusted.

District Judge Lewis Kaplan had expressed concern that Bankman-Fried was testing the limits of his $250 million bail package by communicating via untrackable means. Previously, New York prosecutors suggested that Bankman should be allowed to keep a basic laptop and flip phone while out on bail but would be prohibited from using any additional electronic communication device.

Last month, the US prosecutors added new fraud and conspiracy charges against Bankman-Fried. By implication, the former FTX CEO now faces a 12-count charge despite pleading not guilty to the original eight charges in January. Furthermore, Lawyers for Bankman-Fried have written to district judge Kaplan that they would need more time to evaluate the evidence and prepare a defense.

More shocking revelations about the now-defunct exchange came to life recently following an audit of the firm’s balance sheet. According to a report, FTX owes its customers a staggering $1.6 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC), with only $1 million BTC in its possession.

A crypto analyst on Twitter provided a rough breakdown of the findings, revealing that the exchange has $3.5 billion in supposed liquid coins, $1.7 billion in cash, and $800 million in illiquid assets.

Summarily, FTX holds $5.5 billion in supposed liquid assets and over $11.5 billion in customer liabilities.