Car Drove Into Barricade Outside Bankman-Fried’s Parents’ Home, Lawyers Say

NEW YORK—A car drove into a metal barricade outside Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents’ home in California, his lawyers said on Thursday, in a recent incident they said underscores the security risks faced by the FTX founder and those ensuring his return to court.

The lawyers representing the 30-year-old former billionaire claimed that three men got out the car and spoke to a Palo Alto police officer. “You won’t be able to keep us out.” The men, who are not being identified, got back in their car and drove off.

Bankman-Fried, arrested last month on fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange, is under house arrest at his parents’ home until his Oct. 2 trial. Prosecutors claim he took billions of dollars from FTX customers to cover losses at his hedge fund.

He has pleaded not guilt.

Christian Everdell and Mark Cohen, the lawyers, didn’t specify when it took place. They described it as recent.

The lawyers brought up the incident in response to a push by major media outlets, including Reuters, to make public the names of two people who helped guarantee Bankman-Fried’s bond alongside his parents, both Stanford Law School professors who put up their house as collateral for the $250 million bond.

The news organizations argued last week that the right of the public to know the two sureties’ identities outweighed their privacy and safety rights. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said the media groups” assign far too much weight to the presumption of access” and ignored the safety of the guarantors.

“Given the notoriety of this case and the extraordinary media attention it is receiving, it is reasonable to assume that the non-parent sureties will face significant privacy and safety concerns if their identities are disclosed,” Cohen and Everdell addressed their letter to Lewis Kaplan (U.S. District Judge).

Prosecutors took no position on whether to disclose the sureties’ identities or not, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers wrote in the filing. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment.

Cohen and Everdell wrote that the prosecution interviewed the two men and gave their approval on January 4. They suggested that the two additional security sureties post $500,000 and $200,000 bonds, respectively. This sum is the amount they will have to pay if Bankman Fried does not appear in court.

By Luc Cohen

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