Sam Bankman-Fried’s Court Hearing on Legal Representation

Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried is set to appear before a judge to discuss potential conflicts of interest in his legal team. This will be one of the first times since his first criminal trial that he will face a judge regarding this matter. The hearing, known as a Curcio hearing, is scheduled for February 21 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. During this hearing, Judge Lewis Kaplan will ask Bankman-Fried questions about his legal representation and whether he was informed of any potential conflicts of interest.

The Curcio hearing was prompted by a letter from US prosecutors expressing concerns about Bankman-Fried’s lawyers, Marc Mukasey and Torrey Young. Both lawyers had filed notices of appearance in Bankman-Fried’s case as well as in the case of former FTX CEO Alex Mashinsky. According to prosecutors, the lending of money by Celsius, a sister company of FTX, to Alameda Research, could create a conflicting position during the trials of Bankman-Fried and Mashinsky. The judges presiding over the trials may question whether the defendants wish to waive their rights to conflict-free representation.

At the moment, no Curcio hearing has been scheduled for Mashinsky’s case, and his criminal trial is set to begin in September. Bankman-Fried, once the CEO of one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, was arrested in the Bahamas after FTX’s collapse in November 2022. He was later extradited to the United States and charged with multiple felony counts related to the misuse of funds between FTX and Alameda. Bankman-Fried was convicted in his first trial on seven felony counts, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for March 28.

Since his conviction, Bankman-Fried has been detained at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center and has been absent from the courtroom. His lawyers have been dealing with motions to request delays in the proceedings. While information about Bankman-Fried’s time in jail is limited, reports suggest that he may have been trading packets of Mackerel for services instead of using cryptocurrency. It remains to be seen whether Bankman-Fried will face a second trial in March, given his prior conviction.