MYSTERY GUARANTORS

Sam Bankman-Fried Doesn’t Want People to Know Who’s Co-Signing His Bail

The FTX founder wants a court to shield the names of his deep-pocketed guarantors.

As he prepares to appear before a Manhattan judge on Tuesday, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is working to shield the names of two people who will sign his enormous bail agreement. Bankman-Fried’s parents have already co-signed the $250 million deal and have staked their California home as collateral. Two other guarantors, known in legal parlance as “sureties,” must sign separate bonds. They should be people of “considerable means,” the court said, and at least one of them can’t be related to the fallen crypto king. In a court filing on Tuesday, one of SBF’s lawyers argued that his parents had been subjected to “intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats” in recent weeks, and that the sureties would face similar exposure if their identities were made public. The guarantors have until Thursday to sign their bonds.