GOING PUBLIC

Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250M Bail Guarantors Should Be Named, Judge Rules

The fallen FTX boss had tried to keep the identities secret of two people who had helped him with his megabucks bond.

Two people who helped guarantee Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail bond should be publicly identified, a judge ruled Monday. United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said that while the public merely had a “weak” right to know the names of the FTX founder’s guarantors, the arguments in favor of releasing the names outweighed those given by Bankman-Fried to keep them secret. The names will remain under seal until at least Feb. 7 to give Bankman-Fried’s legal team the opportunity to appeal the decision. Former billionaire Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to fraud over allegations of misusing FTX customers’ funds. He was released from custody in December after his parents and two other guarantors co-signed his $250 million bond, with the two unknown sureties signing $500,000 and $200,000 bonds. He is now under house arrest at his parents’ property in Palo Alto, California.