Ex-Stanford dean & scientist in SBF secret bail deal
The names of two secret signers of Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bond package were revealed Wednesday.
Unsealed filings reveal Bankman-Fried was bailed out partially by a former dean at Stanford University, Larry Kramer, and Andreas Paepcke, a research scientist at the school. They are named as guarantors on what prosecutors have described as the largest federal pretrial bond package in history.
Bankman-Fried fought to keep the names secret, but they were unsealed in Manhattan Federal Court following requests by several media outlets.
Kramer, Stanford’s law school dean from 2004 to 2012, told the Daily News that he and his wife have been close with Bankman-Fried’s parents since the mid-1990s.
“During the past two years, while my family faced a harrowing battle with cancer, they have been the truest of friends — bringing food, providing moral support, and frequently stepping in at moment’s notice to help,” Kramer said. “In turn, we have sought to support them as they face their own crisis.”
He declined to speak to the charges and said he had no business dealings with the defendant. Paepcke did not respond to requests for comment.
The revelation of the bail guarantors names came a day after Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the disgraced cryptocurrency CEO to appear back in court Thursday after learning he’d hidden his online activity by using a VPN — which stands for “virtual private network” — to access his TV set up in the Bahamas to watch the Super Bowl via house arrest in California.
Bankman-Fried’s usage of the hidden network flew in the face of restrictions Kaplan has put in place that bar him from using encrypted technology. Kaplan has rejected modifications to Bankman-Fried’s technology use while on bail, which prosecutors endorsed, and barred him from contacting his former employees or making any financial transfers.
The judge asked Bankman-Fried’s lawyers and prosecutors to devise a stricter arrangement after authorities learned he contacted FTX’s general counsel Ryne Miller, who’s expected to be a key witness at his trial.
In laying out new terms Wednesday, prosecutors cast doubt on Bankman-Fried’s reasons for using a VPN, which they said he didn’t need it to watch the Super Bowl.
“Because the defendant is a technologically sophisticated person with both the ability and the inclination to seek workarounds of more narrowly drawn bail conditions,” Kaplan should prohibit his use of cellphones, tablets, computers, and the internet except to review evidence or talk with his lawyers, wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos.
Roos said Bankman-Fried should have access to one cell phone and one computer monitored by the government.
In response, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers asked that he be permitted to make traditional phone calls as well as email, text messaging and Twitter Direct Messaging, all of which can be monitored.
The one-time wunderkind of the cryptocurrency world has pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges alleging he siphoned investors’ money from FTX, a trading platform, to his hedge fund Alameda. The feds estimate as many as 1 million people lost money through the scam.
Once valued at more than $30 billion, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, and prosecutors have already confiscated almost $700 million. Bankman-Fried also faces civil charges.
Bankman-Fried’s spokesman declined to comment.