Sam Bankman-Fried plans to contend that he acted in “good faith” when he loaned money to FTX and Alameda officials, put Signal messages to auto-delete, and established a number of North American businesses because he was doing so on the advice of attorneys, notably the law firm Fenwick & West.In a statement sent by the FTX founder’s defense team on Wednesday, they described their intended “advice of counsel” strategy and stated that they will present proof that both in-house and Fenwick attorneys “were involved in reviewing and approving decisions related to these matters.”
“Evidence of the defendant’s reliance on counsel is relevant to the question of intent and is not limited to situations where the defense can establish that the defendant formally sought out the advice of counsel, received legal advice, and followed the advice given,” the letter said.
The letter disputed the Department of Justice’s demand for more defense-related information, noting that prosecutors had previously resisted the defense team’s fruitless attempt to obtain information from the law firm. Bankman-Fried showed up in court on Tuesday to enter a not guilty plea to the most recent superseding indictment against him, which alleged conspiracy and wire fraud.He will stand trial at the beginning of October.