SBF Appeals Decision to Reveal Names of Other Two $250M Bail Co-Signers

https://tokenist.com/sbf-appeals-decision-to-reveal-names-of-other-two-250m-bail-co-signers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sbf-appeals-decision-to-reveal-names-of-other-two-250m-bail-co-signers

According to a court filing from Tuesday, SBF decided to appeal last week’s decision to reveal the names of the two undisclosed backers of his $250 million bail bond. The continued secrecy surrounding the co-signers’ identity has remained a point of contention since the fallen billionaire was released on December 22nd.

SBF Appeals Decision to Reveal the Identity of His Other Two Bail Backers

On Thursday, February 7th, Sam Bankman-Fried filed an appeal to the court’s decision to reveal the names of the other two backers of his $250 million bail bond. The two undisclosed co-signers have agreed to sign two lesser bonds of $500,000 and $200,000 respectively after SBF’s parents co-signed the rest of the bail. 

Not long after Bankman-Fried was released to house arrest on December 22nd, a group including several media outlets requested the court disclose the names of two lesser bond signers. While SBF’s team has been vehemently opposed to the reveal, primarily citing privacy and safety concerns, a judge granted the request last week. The order, however, will be stayed until February 14th as a result of today’s appeal.

Sam Bankman-Fried is charged with multiple counts of multiple types of fraud by the DoJ, the SEC, and the CFTC with civil and criminal cases running parallel—though US prosecutors requested a pause to the civil cases until the criminal case is resolved earlier today. SBF has been arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the US in December 2022 for his role in the collapse of FTX as the company’s CEO.

Names of FTX Creditors Could Also be Revealed

The identities of SBF’s bail bond co-signers aren’t the only ones at risk of being revealed in the aftermath of the collapse of FTX. In the adjacent case to the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried—the bankruptcy proceedings of FTX—the names of the exchange’s creditors may also be disclosed.

On January 11th, Judge John Dorsey decided to deny the request to reveal the identities of 9 million creditors saying that the disclosure could both endanger them as individuals, and complicate FTX’s bankruptcy process. He, however, also stated the decision is not final and will be brought back to consideration in three months at most.

It is standard practice to reveal the names of customers and creditors of a company after it goes bankrupt. While Judge Dorsey has previously been somewhat lenient when it comes to collapsed crypto companies, the identities of FTX’s creditors might still end up becoming revealed as the motion to keep their secrecy is opposed by multiple media outlets and the United States DoJ.