Sam Bankman-Fried requests to remain in Brooklyn prison until appeal

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried requested permission to stay in a temporary detention facility in New York City.

According to a document submitted to the U.S. District Court, Bankman-Fried’s legal representatives are seeking consent to allow him to stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. 

Since August 2023, Bankman-Fried has been held at this facility. His lawyers argue that remaining in Brooklyn would ease the coordination with his appeal lawyers, as Bankman-Fried plans to challenge his conviction and the subsequent sentencing.

On March 28, Bankman-Fried received a 25-year sentence on seven fraud and money laundering charges. During the sentencing, the FTX Founder’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey, disclosed plans to appeal the conviction. 

Judge Lewis Kaplan determined Bankman-Fried should serve his sentence in prison near the San Francisco Bay Area, considering his family’s proximity to that location. This decision came before Bankman-Fried’s bail was revoked in August 2023, following a period where he was restricted to his parents’ home in California near Stanford University.

Sam Bankman-Fried was the only one among his colleagues not to plead guilty after the fallout from the FTX and Alameda Research scandal. Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and Ryan Salame, all charged in the same case and associated with the crypto companies, entered guilty pleas and agreed to cooperation deals.

Ryan Salame, a former executive at FTX, is scheduled for sentencing on May 28 following his admission of guilt last September.