By The two individuals who helped FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried post bail will be named after a ruling by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail required a bond co-signed by his parents but also two individuals, one of whom could not be a family member.
Kaplan made the decision on Monday after a petition from a host of media organizations, including the Associated Press, Bloomberg and Dow Jones, which owns MarketWatch, the publisher of this report.
Bankman-Fried had sought to keep their identity private to protect their privacy and safety. The two so far unnamed sureties have to sign appearance bonds in the amount of $500,000 and $200,000.
“It is reasonable to assume that those individuals will become subject to publicity that they would prefer not to attract,” Kaplan said. “That is entitled to some consideration, especially in a case which has the notoriety that this one has attracted. But that alone does not do the trick.”
And while Bankman-Fried’s parents have become the target of harassment and threats, the amount of the bonds “do not suggest the non-parental sureties are persons of great wealth or likely to attract attention of the types and volume of that to which defendant’s parents appear to have been subjected,” the judge ruled.
The U.S. Attorney has alleged that Bankman-Fried has reached out to at least one unnamed witness, wanting to “reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship.” Bankman-Fried also sent a similar to email current FTX CEO John Ray, offering to “say hi” on a visit to New York City after admitting “things haven’t gotten off on the right foot, but I really do want to be helpful.”
