Assistant US Attorney Nicholas Roos stated in a recent hearing in Manhattan federal court that the laptop obtained from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) contains so much data that the FBI is struggling to analyze it, according to reports from Business Insider on Thursday (March 30).
Retrieving Bankman-Fried Slack’s messages reportedly takes weeks for the prosecution. Meanwhile, other data must be obtained more gradually, and agents must sort the information into various sections due to the laptop’s massive volume of data.
In addition, as a result of the device’s size, the Justice Department has not even been able to start its privilege assessment to decide what kinds of data prosecutors are even allowed to utilize in its criminal case against the businessman.
The defense lawyer for Bankman-Fried, Mark Cohen, informed US District Judge Lewis Kaplan that he was “concerned” about how the prosecution would handle the laptop’s data and may bring the matter up again with the court.
The lawyer’s worries, though, are reportedly more about the likelihood of a cooperating witness who could provide evidence to strengthen the government’s case than they are specifically about whether the DOJ will be able to properly examine the computer’s contents.
Over 6 million pages of discovery produced against SBF
The prosecutors have allegedly already produced over 6 million pages of discovery evidence to Bankman-Fried’s defense team, according to the Assistant US Attorney who spoke at the hearing.
This occurred on Thursday while Bankman-Fried was appearing in court to enter a plea against new allegations that had just been made public. Prosecutors accused him of attempting to bribe Chinese officials in 2021 with more than $40 million in cryptocurrencies.
According to the reports, the sole reason for doing so was to persuade the Chinese government to unfreeze the Alameda accounts, which contain more than $1 billion in assets.
Although legal processes are now underway, Fried’s trial in connection with the FTX exchange crash will take place in October. Authorities are filing additional charges against him at this point, but his attorney, Mark Cohen, stated in court that they will challenge the new counts when petitions are filed.
SBF faces up to 115 years in jail for his involvement in FTX’s misconduct, although if convicted, it is not certain that he will receive the full jail term.
