bond

Ex-Stanford dean says SBF’s parents helped his family battle cancer

One of the previously undisclosed guarantors of Sam Bankman-Fried’s bond told Cointelegraph why he helped out the former FTX CEO.

A former dean of Stanford Law School who co-signed Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail said he did so because SBF’s parents have been “the truest of friends” and helped his family through a “harrowing battle with cancer.”

In an emailed statement to Cointelegraph on Feb. 16, Larry Kramer said he co-signed Bankman-Fried’s bail as a way to return the favor.

“Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried have been close friends of my wife and I since the mid-1990s,” said Kramer.

Screenshot of Larry Kramer bio on Hewlett Foundation website. Source: Hewlett Foundation

He said that over the past two years, Bankman and Fried provided food and moral support while “frequently stepping in at moment’s notice to help” during his family’s battle with cancer.

“In turn, we have sought to support them as they face their own crisis,” he added.

Kramer emphasized that he had not been influenced to act as guarantor by any payments made to him by any FTX-related entity, writing:

“My actions are in my personal capacity, and I have no business dealings or interest in this matter other than to help our loyal and steadfast friends.”

Previous statements by Bankman-Fried reportedly corroborate this claim, with the former FTX CEO said to have denied that either of the two previously undisclosed guarantors had received any payments from FTX or sister-firm Alameda Research.

Kramer refrained from commenting on the legal predicament faced by Bankman-Fried, noting that this “is what the trial will be for.”

The other guarantor is Andreas Paepcke, a senior research scientist at Stanford University. He did not respond to questions by the time of publication.

The crypto community has been searching the web looking for more details on Paepcke, but there appears to be little information connecting him to Bankman-Fried outside of their association at Stanford University, where Bankman and Fried used to be law professors.

United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan had allowed the identities of the two former law professors to be made public on Feb. 15, after being petitioned by eight major media outlets in a Jan. 12 letter.

Related: Charity tied to former FTX exec made $150M from insider deal on FTT tokens: Report

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had sought to keep the two anonymous, arguing that the pair could be subject to intrusions, threats and harassment if their names were made public.

Kaplan disagreed, however, noting that the pair had voluntarily signed individual bonds in a “highly publicized criminal proceeding,” and had therefore opened themselves up to public scrutiny.

SBF’s lawyers move to block release of bail guarantors’ identities

The appeal, filed on the last possible day, prevents the names of two bond guarantors for SBF from being revealed until at least Feb. 14.

The names of two guarantors who signed off on part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail bond will continue to remain a secret for now.

A judge has also rejected an agreement that would have permitted Bankman-Fried to use certain messaging apps.

Bankman Fried’s lawyers filed an appeal to block the release of the guarantors’ names last-minute on Feb. 7. The appeal did not contain further arguments against the disclosure but it will prevent the order from being enforced until Feb. 14 to allow for an application for a further stay.

The appeal was expected after a Jan. 30 ruling in which United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted a joint petition from eight major media outlets seeking to unseal the guarantors’ names.

Sam Bankman-Fried in an interview during the Bitcoin 2021 conference. Source: Cointelegraph

At the time, Kaplan noted his order was likely to be appealed given the novelty of the circumstances.

He stated arguments by Bankman-Fried’s lawyers that guarantors “would face similar intrusions” as Bankman-Fried’s parents lacked merit given the size of their individual bonds was much smaller, at $200,000 and $500,000.

Bankman Fried’s parents — Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried — were the other two parties who signed off on the bond.

Additionally, the judge said the guarantors had voluntarily signed individual bonds in a “highly publicized criminal proceeding,” and had therefore opened themselves up to public scrutiny.

Related: US Attorney requests SEC and CFTC civil cases against SBF wait until after criminal trial

Meanwhile, on Feb. 7 Kaplan rejected a joint agreement between Bankman-Fried’s legal team and prosecutors that would have modified bail conditions and allowed Bankman-Fried to use certain messaging apps.

Kaplan did not provide a reason for denying the motion but added the subject would be further discussed in a Feb. 9 hearing.

Kaplan ruled on Feb. 1 that Bankman-Fried was barred from contacting FTX or Alameda Research employees citing a risk of “inappropriate contact with prospective witnesses” after it was revealed the former CEO had been contacting past and present staff.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s life on bail: Armed guards, daily jogs and gawkers

Compared to his prison accommodations in the Bahamas, the former billionaire appears to be living a pretty decent life while under house arrest.

Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly been leading a decent lifestyle while under house arrest in his parent’s home in Palo Alto — with daily jogs, a security detail, and a couple of in-home visits.

However, it’s not exactly a life of endless luxury either. The former FTX CEO is reportedly required to wear an ankle monitor and is only allowed to leave the house under certain circumstances, among other restrictions.

The aforementioned Palo Alto home, located on the border of Stanford University’s campus, is understood to be a $4 million property equipped with five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a pool, according to real estate listings. 

The property has had to be barricaded on both ends, however, as Bankman-Fried has reportedly faced death threats, while his home has turned into something of a tourist attraction for curious onlookers.

His family is shelling out $10,000 a week for a private security firm, according to a Dec. 27 article from the New York Post.

The home Sam Bankman-Fried is reported to be confined to. Source: Google Maps.

As part of the Dec. 22 bond agreement, Bankman-Fried is required to wear an ankle bracelet, has been forced to surrender his passport and is also required to seek approval for any transactions in excess of $1,000. He is also not allowed to possess a firearm, any other weapon or “destructive device”.

He is only able to leave the property for exercise, substance abuse treatment or mental health treatment — something he is understood to have taken up — with multiple reports indicating he has been going for daily jogs with his security detail in tow.

Related: Bankman-Fried may enter plea in NY federal court next week before Judge Lewis Kaplan

While this is still a far cry from the Bahamas penthouse he was previously living in, it still appears far better than the conditions of his cell in Fox Hill prison in the Bahamas. 

That being said, some in the crypto community have been vocal about Bankman-Fried’s release on bail, particularly considering he was able to do so without any upfront payment.

Instead, hs parents’ property has been put up as security for the record $250 million bond, after Bankman-Fried claimed to only have $100,000 in his bank account following the collapse of FTX.

He’s reportedly already been visited by journalist Michael Lewis, author of the popular trading-focused books The Big Short, Liar’s Poker and Flash Boys, who reportedly has been embedded with SBF for over months as part of a book project. 

On Dec. 28, cryptocurrency vlogger Tiffany Fong revealed on Twitter she had visited Bankman-Fried in his parent’s home for a “conversation” just the night before.

Fong was one of the first to interview Bankman-Fried after the exchange went bankrupt in November, and is expected to write about the meeting after her holiday.

Bankman-Fried has denied criminal liability numerous times since the collapse of FTX. He is set to appear in a New York federal court on Jan. 3 to be arraigned on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy.

This little-known DeFi crypto token has rallied over 800% in a month

While an ongoing technical divergence between BOND’s price and volumes suggests upside exhaustion.

A new and relatively unknown DeFi token called BarnBridge (BOND) has rallied over 800% to reach $20 on July 26.

The BOND price surge comes more than a month after bottoming out at around $2.19. In comparison, top coins, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) have only rebounded by 18% and 54% in the same period, respectively.

BOND/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView

Another pump and dump?

BarnBridge is a cross-chain risk management protocol that offers a suite of composable DeFi products for investors to hedge against interest rate fluctuations and price volatility.

Examples include SMART Yield — a product that enables investors to secure fixed rate yields from the debt pools of other projects such as Aave, Compound, Cream, or Yearn.finance — and SMART Exposure, which offers investors tools to rebalance portfolios.

BarnBridge SMART products explained. Source: Official Website

BarnBridge’s latest product, SMART Alpha, allows investors to hedge against price fluctuations and provides them leverage for bullish theses. Meanwhile, BOND serves as a governance token to the Ethereum-based DAO representing BarnBridge.

On the surface, the latest BOND price pump should reflect a booming interest in risk-trenching protocols, primarily when many projects in the DeFi sector have failed. But the token’s gains appear largely speculative if one focuses on its trading volume concentration.

Notably, more than 50% of BOND volumes have originated at Binance in the past 24 hours, according to data tracked by CoinMarketCap. At the same time, the daily trading activity of the benchmark BOND/USD pair has been declining during the price pump, as shown below.

BOND/USD daily price chart featuring price-volume divergence. Source: TradingView

The price-volume divergence suggests that fewer investors have been behind the BOND price pump, increasing the chances of a sharp correction in the coming days or weeks.

Next BOND price targets

Drawing a Fibonacci retracement graph from BOND’s swing high of $37.50 to its swing low of $2.18 churns out a sequence of potential support and resistance levels, as shown in the weekly chart below.

BOND/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

BOND has been retreating after testing $24 as its interim resistance, and now anticipates to undergo an extended correction toward $15.60, down 17.5% from July 26’s price. A further breakdown risks crashing the price to $10.50, or a 45% decline.

Related: Institutional ETH sentiment turns positive after 11 weeks of outflows

Conversely, a rebound above $24 could have BOND test $30 as its next upside target. Another breakout move could shift the target to $37.50, up 95% from current price levels.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.