A three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has denied a motion for early release for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF.
In a Sept. 21 order, Circuit Judges John Walker Jr., Denny Chin, and William Nardini denied SBF’s motion for early release, which his team argued largely was due to First Amendment issues. The ruling said Lewis Kaplan — the judge overseeing SBF’s criminal case — had “correctly determined” that Bankman-Fried’s speech amounted to witness tampering.
“The record shows that the district court thoroughly considered all of the relevant factors, including [Bankman-Fried’s] course of conduct over time that had required the district court to repeatedly tighten the conditions of release,” said the Sept. 21 order. “It also shows that the district court contemplated a less restrictive alternative offered by [SBF] —an order limiting his communications with the press—but reasonably concluded this was not ‘a workable solution longer term.’”
The judges added:
“[T]he district court did not err in concluding that [SBF] had failed to rebut the presumption in favor of detention. We have reviewed [the defense team’s] additional arguments and find them unpersuasive.”
Bankman-Fried previously admitted to releasing former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s private journals to a New York Times reporter, resulting in some of its contents being published — an act prosecutors labeled as witness intimidation. SBF’s lawyers also argued for early release from jail on the grounds the lack of consistent Internet access prevented him from preparing an adequate defense for his criminal trial.
The court had been deliberating on the matter following a Sept. 19 hearing in which both the Justice Departure and SBF’s defense team had roughly five minutes to present their cases for the former FTX CEO remaining in jail and early release, respectively. Judge Kaplan revoked SBF’s $250-million bail on Aug. 11, whereupon he was remanded to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The appellate court ruling was likely one of the last chances for Bankman-Fried to be freed ahead of his first criminal trial, scheduled to begin on Oct. 3 — less than two weeks. His second trial is expected to start in March 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Nigel Farage has predicted the Tories will soon descend into “warfare” as a former Conservative minister warned voters about a “Labour elective dictatorship” if they voted for Reform.
The Reform UK leader told The Sunday Telegraph that divisions in the party were only going to “get worse” in the run-up to polling day on 4 July.
Mr Farage was speaking as three polls this week painted a bleak picture for Mr Sunak – and a sunny one for his party.
A poll by Savanta for The Sunday Telegraph showed the Tories down four points to just 21% of the vote – the lowest by that pollster since the dying days of Theresa May’s premiership in early 2019.
In a boost for Mr Farage, the poll showed Reform UK up three points with 13% of the vote.
A separate Survation poll for Best for Britain, published by The Sunday Times, predicted the Tories would win just 72 seats in the next parliament, compared with 456 for Labour.
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The result would give Labour a majority of 262 seats – far surpassing the landslide Labour achieved by Tony Blair in 1997 – while the Liberal Democrats would pick up 56 seats, Reform seven and the Greens one seat.
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Mr Farage, who is set to launch Reform’s manifesto on Monday, told the Sunday Telegraph that “within a week, you watch… there’ll be warfare within the Conservative Party as there was in the run-up to ’97,” referring to the election when Labour last won a landslide under Mr Blair.
He likened the current divisions in the Conservative Party – chiefly over migration – to splits under former Tory prime minister John Major over joining the Euro.
“In the run-up to ’97, John Major said that he was agnostic about joining the Euro,” he told the newspaper.
“Those who wanted to join the Euro did their own manifesto and raised their own money. It was an absolutely split, divided joke and the same will happen in this election. You watch, it’s coming.
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“You will start to see those MPs, who I agree with on most things, start becoming much more vociferous about their stance as opposed to that of the party. The splits are going to get worse. And to them, I will say: ‘Sorry guys, you are just in the wrong party’.”
It comes as former immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who is touted as a future Tory leader, gave an interview with the same newspaper saying he “shares the frustrations” of traditional Tory voters who are tempted to defect to Reform – but that they should stick with Mr Sunak’s party to avoiding handing Labour a landslide.
“I have immense sympathy for those natural Conservatives who feel let down and drawn to Reform,” he said.
“Not only do I understand their frustrations, I share many of them.
“The tax burden is too high, the criminal justice system too soft and public services too inefficient. My disagreements with the government on immigration policy meant I resigned from cabinet.”
He added: “But, ultimately, a vote for Reform will only give Labour a blank cheque to take our country back to the 1970s.
“Voting Reform cannot be the answer. It can only bring about a government that increases taxes and immigration. Their success can only weaken the conservative movement. The right cannot unify after the election if there is no meaningful force in parliament to coalesce around.
“Our task is to make conservatives across Britain aware of this peril. If we can do that, and make the case that only a vote for the Conservative Party can prevent a calamitous one-party state come 5 July, then we can avert disaster.”
Two polls published today spell bad news for Rishi Sunak, with one showing a drop of four points and the other that his party is on course to pick up just 72 seats.
A poll by Savanta for The Daily Telegraph showed the Tories are down four points to just 21% of the vote – the lowest by that pollster since the dying days of Theresa May’s premiership in 2019.
In a boost for Nigel Farage, the poll showed Reform UK up three points with 13% of the vote.
A separate Survation poll for Best for Britain, published by The Times, predicted that the Tories would win just 72 seats in the next parliament, compared with 456 for Labour.
It comes after a YouGov poll on Thursday night put Nigel Farage’s party on 19% of the vote, compared with 18% for the Conservatives.
The development prompted Mr Farage to declare Reform as the “opposition to Labour” going into the election.