UNMASKED

REVEALED: Sam Bankman-Fried’s Mystery Bail Co-Signers

The FTX founder’s legal team had tried to keep the names secret.

A New York judge abruptly revealed on Wednesday the identities of two people who helped secure Sam Bankman-Fried’s massive bail agreement. The FTX founder’s legal team had previously fought attempts to identify the individuals, but they ultimately chose not to pursue an appeal, a person familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast.

The two individuals are Andreas Paepcke, who signed a $200,000 bond, and Larry Kramer, who signed a $500,000 bond.

Kramer is a family friend and the former dean of Stanford Law School. In December, he spoke to The New York Times about the reputational damage Bankman-Fried’s indictment has caused his parents, who have also worked as Stanford Law professors.

“I had a friend who said, ‘You don’t want to be seen with them,’” he said, adding that he believed their son’s legal battle might “bankrupt them.”

Paepcke is also affiliated with Stanford as a senior research scientist. According to his biography, he has been a technical adviser to multiple startups.

Judge Lewis Kaplan had previously agreed to seal the names while he considered the matter. In a court filing pushing to keep the information private, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys argued that “the notoriety of this case and the extraordinary media attention it is receiving” could cause “significant privacy and safety concerns” for the co-signers.

They pointed to an incident in which someone drove their car into a barricade outside the house of Bankman-Fried’s parents—where Bankman-Fried is under home confinement—as an example of the threats facing people involved with the case. (The home is also helping secure the $250 million bail agreement.)

News organizations objected to sealing the identities, though, and Kaplan later agreed to make the information public. He did, however, give the parties time to appeal the order.

Bankman-Fried’s team filed a notice of appeal on Feb. 7, the docket shows.

But on Wednesday, Kaplan wrote that because “no application for a further stay has been made to the Court of Appeals,” he would order the clerk to release the co-signers’ identities.

A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment. Kramer and Paepcke could not immediately be reached.

The 30-year-old former crypto superstar is facing an eight-count indictment, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Emily ShugermanSenior Reporter

Noah KirschWealth and Power Reporter

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