Sam Bankman-Fried Lawyers Told Judge They ‘Need’ Him Out of Jail Ahead of Trial

Sp F's criminal defense team failed to win any major concessions in the hearing yesterday despite one of the lawyers saying that they need him to be released. Joining us now to discuss is coin global policy and regulation. Managing editor Nick, who is also famously the editor of Coin State of crypto News Center. Good morning, Nick. Hey, good morning. Uh putting you on the stand. Now you were a witness to the hearing. What happened yesterday. Yeah. So this was a hearing about a couple different motions mostly by the defense team, right? One was to try and get temporary access uh for Sam be Madrid or at least have him or ensure that he has greater access to the internet and his computer work uh work product for his defense ahead of the trial that's starting in about five weeks. Now. Uh There was another one on uh discovery issues. The defense has been complaining that the DOJ has been producing defend uh discovery materials well past, you know, the deadline that they had of July 1st, uh and then the third were just kind of some miscellaneous issues. The judge was really kind of short with the defense team from the outset, he wasn't really impressed by their arguments. He, you know, said that the discovery was completely ok. Uh, and that it could be continued to be produced and, uh, he wants more information on the conditions at the metropolitan detention Center in Brooklyn before he'll make any ruling on that. But, um, you know, it sounded like the DOJ was, uh, addressing a lot of the concerns laid out. And so I would be honestly pretty surprised if the judge oked a temporary release. Nick, what's special about you is you are actually in the court when these hearings happen, you are present, talk to us about the atmosphere, what was going on? What was the feeling like when you were in there? Yeah. So, uh, yesterday's hearing was actually a little unusual in that it was a teleconference. So I think the judge might be on vacation because he's also been out for a little bit. Um, but yeah, normally it's, you know, it's a very packed affair. There have been overflow rooms every hearing that I've been in. Um, the judge himself has, you know, a bit of a sense of humor. So, I it's pretty odd in that, you know, it's a very serious proceeding and then he'll just crack a joke and everyone will laugh. Uh, which is, you know, it, it's an interesting juxtaposition but so far, you know, I think the judge in this particular has been trying to do everything as by the book as possible, giving, you know, defense and prosecution every opportunity to, you know, lay out their arguments and concerns and have it written down on paper so that there's a, you know, a written record, um, which has been, you know, really interesting to you kind of just watch play out. We're completely out of time. Nick. But I have to ask you, do we know of the conditions in Brooklyn's M DC facility that will be decided upon on Tuesday. The judge implied that he would, you know, at least give it another look on Tuesday. But I think first he wants to see whatever the report is and whether or not the defense's concerns, namely internet access, laptop, battery access, things like that, uh are addressable and have been addressed before he makes any decision one way or another. All right, Nick, thanks for joining us this morning. We will see you tomorrow. That was Coindesk global policy and regulation. Managing editor Nick Day. Don't forget to sign up for the state of crypto newsletter on Coindesk dot com.