| FTX
Criminal Case Reassigned to Judge Kaplan
After Recusal and Delayed Transcripts
Unsealed
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
Book
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Dec 27 - Caroline
Ellison of Alameda Research
and Gary Wang of FTX quietly
pleaded guilty on December 19,
while Sam Bankman-Fried was
still in the Bahamas, not yet
consenting to extradition to
the United States for trial.
The
transcripts of the two guilty
pleas were ordered sealed by
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge Ronny Abrams, who cited
"law enforcement's other
interests in connection with
this prosecution." To her
credit, Judge Abram denied a
defense request to seal the
courtroom. And if it had been
a request from Main Justice?
In any case, there was no
notice of the
proceeding.
Late on December
23, citing her husband's
partnership in the Davis Polk
lawfirm, Judge Abrams recused
herself from the SBF / FTX
criminal case: " RONNIE
ABRAMS, United States District
Judge: It has come to the
Court’s attention that the law
firm of Davis Polk &
Wardwell LLP, at which my
husband is a partner, advised
FTX in 2021, as well as
represented parties that may
be adverse to FTX and
Defendant Bankman-Fried in
other proceedings (or
potential proceedings). My
husband has had no involvement
in any of these
representations. These matters
are confidential and their
substance is unknown to the
Court. Nonetheless, to avoid
any possible conflict, or the
appearance of one, the Court
hereby recuses itself from
this action. See 28 U.S.C. §
455. SO ORDERED. Dated:
December 23, 2022 New York,
New York." Order on Inner City
Press' Document Cloud here.
On December 27,
the case was reassigned to
SDNY District Judge Lewis A.
Kaplan, who recently presided
over the civil sexual abuse
trial in Rapp v. Kevin Spacey,
with Spacey winning. Others
pointed to the Donziger case,
to Poker Stars and others.
When will the next conference
be - and will it be in-person?
Watch this site.
After SBF
was released on $250 million
mostly unsecured bail - Inner
City Press live tweeted thread
and story here
- the following morning,
December 23, the two
transcripts were
unsealed.
Inner City
Press quickly tweeted screen
shots of Ellison's guilty plea
allocution, thread here.
Now the same on
Gary Wang, on Patreon here
-
note that
Wang was also ordered to have
"no contact with
co-defendants." More
differences on Patreon here
Inner City Press
will have more on this -
including via its Freedom of
Information Act request,
granted
expedited treatment by the
Federal Reserve Board on
December 23. Watch this site.
The case is US v.
Bankman-Fried, et al., 22-cr-673
(Kaplan)
***
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