Prosecutors rebuff complaints from Bankman-Fried’s lawyers regarding excessive evidence

U.S. prosecutors responded to complaints from accused former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his legal team in a filing on Aug. 29.

Bankman-Fried and his team previously objected to the government’s decision to provide large amounts of discovery materials in the weeks leading up to trial.

In a recent filing dated Aug. 28, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers noted that the government provided about 7.7 million pages of discovery materials over a matter of days. The lawyers also complained that their client had no practical way to review those documents due to his imprisonment and other related factors.

Government prosecutors, however, say that those complaints are “distorted.” Prosecutors admitted that they were delayed in providing 4 million pages of discovery due to production issues at Google. However, they said that Bankman-Fried should have been able to review those documents in preparation for his defense for several months because the materials in question originated from his own Google accounts.

The prosecutors also claimed Bankman-Fried may be seeking evidence in order to engage in witness tampering, writing that the former CEO had “identified documents from his Google accounts that he believed would discredit one of the Government’s cooperating witnesses and provided them to a widely read publication.”

That comment seemingly refers to Bankman-Fried’s disclosures about former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, who is set to serve as a star witness. The New York Times printed a story on Ellison based on Bankman-Fried’s information in July.

Some discovery materials are duplicates

Prosecutors additionally said that 3.7 million pages of discovery are duplicate documents and do not increase the total amount of discovery materials. They said those documents were merely meant to notify Bankman-Fried of documents that would be included in future discovery and insisted that Bankman-Fried and his legal team were “literally double counting” discovery materials in this regard.

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers previously asked for courts to prevent the government from introducing evidence produced after July 1, 2023. The government said it intends to oppose that request through its latest filing.

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