Crypto Titans Clash: Judge Denies Sam Bankman-Fried’s Sentencing Delay Request

• SBF lawyers request for a delayed sentencing for the former FTX boss.
• Judge Lewis Kaplan has officially rejected the request.

As the cryptocurrency community awaits the outcome of the ongoing case with the former CEO of FTX, new updates are unfolding. Per the most recent development, it appears that the odds are not in Sam Bankman-Fried’s favor.

According to recent reports, Judge Lewis Kaplan has rejected SBF’s request to adjourn his sentencing hearing. On the 20th of December, Sam Bankman-Fried asked the judge to adjourn his court hearing by four- to six weeks.

If the Judge granted SBF’s request, his presentencing interview would have been pushed from December 21st, the originally scheduled date. His sentencing hearing was scheduled to be held on the 28th of March and would have also been pushed back.

According to the details of the letter, the request was put together by Mark Cohen of Cohen & Gresser. Both lawyers presided over Bankman-Fried’s trial in the United States District Court of Southern New York.

Per the request, the lawyers were not only seeking a delay for presentencing, but they also highlighted the position of the government on the counts severed.

Excerpts of the letter read;

The defense requires the additional time to collect materials necessary for the sentencing and submission and to prepare for the presentence law. In addition, a trial on the severed counts of the indictment is still set for March 11, 2024. The Government has not decided whether it intends to proceed on those counts.

SBFs’ Lawyers Lay Down the Reason for the Request

The lawyers explained the impact that Sam Bankman-Fried beginning the sentencing process on the counts of conviction could have. They added that the presentencing interview before the severed counts are resolved could potentially result in a separate PSR. It could also result in a separate sentencing hearing on the conduct that was already part of the Government’s proof at trial.

Per our previous report, SBF was detained in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center as he awaited sentencing for his many fraudulent crimes.

The former FTX boss was said to have traded Mackerels in return for his infamous motop hairstyle. He shared the detention center with Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former Honduran president.

Since the crash of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, the market has recorded massive losses. Investors not only pulled out of the market, but surveillance from regulatory authorities increased immediately.

Regulatory bodies like the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commissions (SEC) have maintained that the crypto market is still volatile and unregulated for the most part.