Sam Bankman-Fried is currently on bail as he awaits trial for eight federal criminal charges, including fraud and other financial crimes.
On Wednesday, the judge overseeing the criminal trial for Sam Bankman-Fried ordered the unsealing of the names of cosigners for the $250 million bond of the disgraced FTX founder.
In short fashion, the two sureties were revealed to be Larry Kramer [1], dean emeritus of Stanford Law School, and Andreas Paepcke [1], a senior research scientist at Stanford University. The first, Larry Kramer [1], signed the larger bond of $500,000.
Kramer was the dean of Stanford Law School from 2004 to 2012, where both of Bankman-Fried’s parents were professors [2].
Separately, Paepcke [3] signed the $200,000 bond. Like Kramer [1], Paepcke is also associated with Stanford University [3], where an online profile reveals he is a senior research scientist.
Both Kramer and Paepcke’s names were previously redacted from court documents [2], but the judge overseeing the criminal trial ultimately decided that the public’s right to know outweighed the arguments for confidentiality [1].
Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the names of the co-signers to be revealed after considering the matter, as no application for a further stay had been made to the Court of Appeals.
The collapse of FTX Exchange in November 2022, where Sam Bankman-Fried was former CEO, has had a wide impact on cryptocurrency markets, with comparisons made to the Enron scandal and Madoff investment scandal.
FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume and had over one million users before its collapse. Following the bankruptcy, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas froze the assets of one of FTX’s subsidiaries. Bankman-Fried’s net worth, estimated at $16 billion prior to the collapse, was reported as having been wiped out.
References:
[1] Former Stanford Law School dean among SBF cosigners
[2] Stanford University’s Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke co …